That Thing You Do
by DanniBannani
Summary: Throught a letter, Lily Evans one day discovers a hidden truth…she’s a witch! She is sent to Hogwarts where she meets a certain James Potter. Will sparks fly? Or will things get burned... From 1st yr to 7th. My 1st fic, please rr! (mostly OOtP-iz
1. Is this real?

Disclaimer: Everything you recognize in this fic belongs to JK Rowling. All the other characters that will eventually pop up belong to me, me, me!!!!

Summary: Lily Evans is as depressed as can be, mostly due to her evil sister, Petunia. That is, until the day the Hogwart's letter arrives. Could this be the end to her torments and the beginning of a wonderful life?

Author's Note: Hello everybody…just wanted to let you know that this is my FIRST FIC EVER!!!! It'll start out slow (no romance till later. sorry gals) So, don't be too hard on me. Hehe, just kidding. Tell me what you think. And don't be afraid to criticize me either. I'll need the help for future writing. Enjoy~*~DanniBannani 

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Lily Marie Evans, a pretty red head with emerald eyes, sat at her kitchen table feeling miserable. Any other eleven year old would be out, playing in the sun on this bright summer's day, but then again any other eleven year old was not Lily Evans. Lily only had one reason to be feeling so sad and angry on such a day; her name was Petunia, Lily's sister.

In Lily's eyes Petunia was perfect, with her shiny brown hair and beautiful blue eyes, but Petunia was one to make a baby cry just by being in the same room. Of course, she was a beautiful child, but her inner-beauty was non-existent. At a first glance, Petunia's features were stunning, but soon after meeting her, her smile resembled more of a smirk and her eyes looked more angry than striking. But being the younger sister she was, Lily could not recognize the jealousy her sister held inside of her, jealousy for every other beautiful creature on earth, but mostly jealousy for her younger sister, whom her parents adored. It was at times Petunia's jealousy got the better of her that she took to making Lily share her pain. It was times like these Lily found herself sitting at the kitchen table, watching her cereal become soggy, wishing she were dead.

As Lily sat at the table, an occasional tear gliding down her pale cheeks, she noticed a light tapping on the window. She looked up and saw a large barn owl scraping its claw against the glass. 'How odd,' Lily thought, but still she approached the window and opened it, letting the owl inside. It was then she noticed the letter it was holding in its other claw. She hesitantly took the letter from the owl and opened the envelope that bore the Hogwart's seal. Out fell a piece of parchment with the following message written in small, precise letters:

Dear Miss Evans,

We are glad to inform you of your acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will find a list of all the books and equipment needed for your appropriate classes below. We are aware that you are a Muggle born student and therefore feel it may be difficult for you to find Diagon Alley, the area in which you will find your supplies. We feel it would not be best to travel by the floo network, and therefore believe it will be necessary to send someone to take you to the alley through London by means of The Leaky Cauldron. Mr. Henry Potter will be arriving at your home around six o'clock in the morning on the 20th of August. If there are any questions or doubts, please don't hesitate to owl us. We hope to see you on September 1.

          Yours sincerely,

          Geraldine Smith,

          _Deputy Headmistress_

Lily's eyes widened as they scanned over the paper in front of her. 'Witchcraft and _Wizardry?_' Lily thought, 'But how is that possible? There's no such thing, is there?' Her mind was filling with hopeful thoughts of finally escaping Petunia, making a new start where nobody knew who she was. Lily quickly rushed to find her mother, tripping over an unnoticed piece of candy from her birthday yesterday. She searched around the house yelling, "MOM! MOOOOOM! Where are you? C'mere, quick!"

          "I'm up here, honey!" Patricia Evans yelled down the stairs.

          Soon Lily was up the stairs and raced into her mother's bedroom, where Petunia was having her silky hair brushed by her mother.

          "Mom! You have to read this! Look!" Lily shoved the letter into her mother's hand and watched anxiously as her mother's brows furrowed, then relaxed, then furrowed again.

          "Lily, what is the meaning of this? Is this some kind of joke?"

          "No mom! It's real, I promise. I was downstairs when this owl started tapping on the window, and then I opened it and—"

          "Sounds like Lily is finally realizing the only way she can get her mother to realize her existence is to make up a bunch of LIES!" Petunia interrupted.

          "Hush child," Patricia scolded. Petunia slouched down looking disturbed.

          "---and, um…" Lily continued, realizing how unreal her story seemed, "well, I opened the letter, read it and came to you. So, what do you think?"

          "I think we should tell your father about the letter, and see how he would feel about having a witch in the family," Lily's mother said smiling at her daughter's anxious expression.

          Lily flung her arms around her mother's neck, "Oh! Really? Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you!"

          " I always knew there was something special about you little flower."

When Lily's father heard about the news he was just as supportive of Lily as her mother. The only person who hated the prospect of Lily going to Hogwarts was Petunia. She only saw Hogwarts as another excuse for her parents to love Lily more. She hoped that the school turned out to be a complete joke and that Mr. Potter would never arrive at their house. This of course, didn't happen the way Petunia wanted it to.

As August 20th finally arrived the entire house was in a nervous state: Mr. and Mrs. Evans, along with Lily, were nervous about the letter turning out to be a mean joke; Petunia was nervous because she was afraid Henry Potter would arrive and her sister's dream would come true.  Mrs. Potter was just scolding Petunia for teasing her sister when she heard a small pop coming from the living room. She carefully walked towards the room to find a tall man with messy dark brown hair and hazel eyes standing awkwardly by the couch. He looked up, smiled and took a step towards Mrs. Potter introducing himself, " Hi, my name is—"

"Henry Potter," Patricia interrupted. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Lily is waiting in the kitchen. Follow me."

Henry followed the small woman into the kitchen to find a pretty, young girl sitting in the chair looking anxiously towards him. 

" Lily, this is Mr. Henry Potter," Patricia explained.

"Oh! Hi! It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." Lily said enthusiastically.

" Oh, you can call me Henry. Sir makes me feel too old."

"Ok. So, when can we go, Henry?"

"Lily, the man barely even got here; give him some time to breathe before you whisk him away!" Patricia directed towards Lily. She then turned to Henry, " I'm so sorry, sometimes her excitement gets the better of her."

"No, it's okay. My son does the same thing sometimes. In fact, he does it all the time! Speaking of my son, is it all right if he comes along with us to do some Hogwart's shopping? You see, I have a pretty busy schedule and I don't get to do anything like this very often with my son, so I was just thinking it might be convenient if he come along since he's starting his first year at Hogwarts and all, and he may bring along his best friend Sirius too, because they always do stuff together and--" Mr. Potter looked at the amused expressions on the Evans' faces "I'm babbling on, aren't I?" Lily honestly answered him, only to be scolded by her mother once again.

"Henry, it would be fine if they come along. I'm sure Lily wouldn't mind, right?"

"Oh, no sir, er, Henry. I think it would be nice to know somebody before I start at school. It may be helpful, since everybody else will have a head start on magic."

" Great! Well, we better be off. Diagon Alley is always crowded around this time of year. The earlier the better."

As soon as Lily and Henry had left the house, Henry became extremely fascinated at everything they passed. He'd point at something such as a mailbox and say something stupid like, "Oh, look it's one of those miniature owl boxes! How _interesting_!" or maybe even, "Oh wow! Look at that telephonabbie box! How amazing. It's really interesting how you Muggles work without magic!"  By then, Lily had begun to understand that Muggles were non-magic people, and everything Muggles had did not exist in the Wizard world. 

Somehow, Lily managed to get to The Leaky Cauldron without too many strange events to cover up, other than the occasional outbursts of Henry. When they went inside, Henry said his hellos to many people and Lily realized that Henry was a minister of some sort. Soon they were outside of an ice cream shop, Florean Fortiscue's, waiting for Henry's son and Sirius.

After about 10 minutes of waiting, two young boys came out of the crowd and started walking towards the table Lily and Henry were seated at. Lily immediately recognized Henry's son because of his tousled hair. However, unlike his father, his eyes resembled an ocean of pale blues and grays. The other boy, Sirius, had longish, brown hair and his joyful eyes were like deep pools of chocolate. As they approached, Lily heard the two boys conversing over a very strange topic.

"I definitely think the Cannons will win the cup this year! There's no chance they won't win. It's just not possible!" Henry's son said.

"I gotta agree with you on that one, bud. The Cannons definitely have some potential, especially now that they have Baker--" Sirius agreed.

"—and the new Cleansweeps! They've _got to be the fastest brooms ever created. If only I could get my hands on one of those—oh, hello dad, and…err…"_

"Lily," Lily informed.

"Yes, Lily. Sorry to be rude, but may I ask what you are doing here?"

"JAMES!" Henry yelled.

"What?" James inquired innocently.

"James, this is Lily Evans. She will be going to Hogwarts with you this upcoming year. She's Muggle born, so she may need some help learning the ropes of the wizarding world. Do you think you and Sirius could show her around a bit?"

"Sure Dad. No problem," James reluctantly said to the idea of having to be with a stupid Muggle girl all day long.

"Well, I think it would be wise to take her to Gringotts first. She'll need to exchange her money for our money, okay? Great. Well son. You know how to get into our vault, so I suggest you be off! I have some work to do at the Ministry, but I'll meet you here in about, let's see, 6 hours? Great. Well…you know the shops already too, so just find what you need and I'll see you in a while okay?"

Before James could answer, Henry Potter had melted into the crowd and headed off towards the Ministry.

 "Hey you, with the messed up hair, yes you!" Lily said to James after he pointed at himself, "I know you don't wanna have to deal with me for a **whole entire** _six hours, but I figure we may actually need to do some of this school shopping, that is, unless you wanna stand her staring after your father until he comes back. Oh, and by the way, what's your name?"_

"Oh, right. Uh, my name's uh..umm…" James said in shock at the girl's boldness.

"His name's James, and I'm Sirius" Sirius answered. "You know you're pretty cool for a girl. Nobody ever shuts James up that quickly. You've got some serious potential."

"Thanks. Pleasure to meet the two of you. So, we need to go to Gringotts. I suspect it's some kind of bank, right?"

"Yeah," James said, seeming to have found his voice, "It's right over there. C'mon lets go."

James and Sirius moved swiftly through the crowd and Lily struggled to keep up, as she was finding herself thoroughly interested in the small shops carrying wizarding goods. She tore her eyes off the stores long enough to see a huge building in the distance, Gringotts.

          They soon entered the bank, greeted by goblins at the doors. Lily walked with James and Sirius to the desk where they exchanged her Muggle money for Wizard money. Then Sirius and James got the keys to their vaults and were led to a door off the hall. Lily, of course, followed. They climbed into a small cart that led into the darkness. Soon, they were spinning deeper and deeper into the ground, getting queasier by the second. Suddenly the cart came to a halt and James got out. He quickly walked to his vault, opened the door, revealing a fortune, and hastily stuffed money into a sack. Lily was in shock at how much money James had, but figured his dad's job must be of some importance. 

          Next was Sirius's vault. Inside was still a large amount of money, but nothing at all compared to James's. Soon, the three found themselves climbing upwards in the cart towards the entrance. They quickly got out, happy they hadn't eaten any ice cream before the trip to the bank.

          After Gringotts, everyone was ready to buy their supplies. They spent the next few hours getting their items: uniform from Madam Malkin's; books from Flourish and Blotts; potions ingredients from the Apothecary; wands from Ollivanders; and owls from Eeylops Owl Emporium.

          They had finished all of their shopping with an hour to spare, so the boys found themselves outside of the broom shop, noses pressed against the window, admiring the new Cleansweeps. Lily stood behind them, wondering what was so important about broomsticks in the first place, watching the boys drooling over a piece of wood and straw.

          Eventually, the boys gave up on the brooms and wandered back to Florean's. They bought themselves ice cream sundaes and relaxed in the sun enjoying the weather. It was at this time the boys began to discuss quidditch again. Noticing the lost expression on Lily's face, the boys didn't hesitate to explain the rules to her. She soon found herself understanding the big deal with the Cleansweeps, wishing she could see a game of quidditch, and wondering when she would finally get to fly.

          Before she would have wished, it was time for Lily to go back to her house and tell her parents all about Diagon Alley, her glimpse at the wizarding world. Henry Potter returned to the ice cream parlor and Lily said her goodbyes to her new friends. She would see them again in about two weeks on the Hogwarts Express, the train that would be taking her to her new school where her life as a witch would begin.

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DanniBannani~

So, what did you think? Tell me by clicking on that little button down there, you know the one that says, SUBMIT REVIEW. It may help out a "writer in the making." PLEASE? ;-) Ok, Ok do whatever you want. * smooches *


	2. Train Ride to a New Life

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters created by JK Rowling. But, anything you don't recognize is mine.

I wanna say thank you to my fist reviewer EVER, Toria. Thanks a bunch for that review (luckily it was positive) and I have been inspired to write a WHOLE NEW CHAPTER…within a week. Thank you!! A special thanks to Shree. You have given me some great tips. Thanks!

I don't have much to say, but here's chapter two…………

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That Thing You Do

Chapter 2

          The day finally came for Lily to go to Hogwarts. She had been vigorously studying her books for the past two weeks in hopes that she wouldn't be too much further behind the other students. Little did she know that she was further along than most of the students of her year, and a few of the next.

          Sooner than she expected, Lily was standing alone between platforms 9 and 10, a perplexed expression on her face. She had said goodbye to her family earlier because Petunia needed to go to a recital at 11 o'clock and now she wasn't exactly sure how to get to platform 9 ¾. She was positive the entrance was somehow hidden from the Muggles at the station and was wondering where it could be when she saw a tall, thin girl with blonde hair and blue eyes pushing a cart with a trunk and owl's cage similar to hers. The girl was walking towards the barrier dividing platforms 9 and 10. Lily was about to tell the girl to look out for the barrier when she disappeared into the wall. A woman who appeared to be her mother soon followed the girl.

          Lily was unsure of what to do next. She stood, staring at the barrier for ten minutes until she realized the train would be departing in half an hour. She would surely miss it if she didn't do anything soon. Lily decided her only choice was to go through the barrier.

          Looking around to make sure not too many people were there to witness her disappear into the barrier, or make a fool of herself if she were to fail, Lily began to push her cart towards the sturdy brick wall. She closed her eyes when she was about to meet the wall only to open them and see the scarlet Hogwarts Express smoking in front of her. She'd done it.

          Relieved, Lily started to make her way towards the train when she heard a familiar voice, "Lily! Over here!" Lily looked in the direction from which the voice came to find James and Sirius waving wildly at her. She grinned as they walked over, excited to have found her friends. 

          Soon, there was another boy who joined them: Remus Lupin a young boy, pale but handsome with his light brown hair and his wisdom-filled honey eyes. Remus said hello to James and Sirius and introduced himself to Lily. The three boys then helped Lily get her luggage onto the train and searched for an empty compartment. They quickly found one at the end of the train and were seated as the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station.

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As Lily sat, looking out the window, she began to hear muffled sniggers coming from the boys. She tried to ignore them, but they just kept getting louder. She had almost succeeded in blocking them out when Sirius let out a huge cackle and Lily whipped her head around.

          "_What_ are you laughing at?"

          "Nothing," Sirius said innocently, _too_ innocently.

          "I DEMAND to know WHAT IT IS!" Lily yelled getting frustrated.

          "James turned your hair blue," a short, chubby boy stated matter-of-factly. He had just entered the compartment.

          "And how do _you_ know it was him?" Lily asked, eyes widening as she saw her electric blue hair.

          "He did the same thing to me a few hours ago."

          "PETER!" James yelled.

          "Oh, sorry." Peter said, feeling slightly guilty as he plopped himself down in an empty seat next to Remus.

          "Oh, how nice of you to apologize," Lily sarcastically commented, "but HOW do you change my hair back?"

          "Err…" James thought.

          "Great!" Lily screamed hysterically. She turned to Peter, "How did _you _change _your_ hair back?"

          "M-my m-mom was here. Sh-she changed it back," Peter sputtered out.

          "Oh no!" Lily moaned into her hands.

          "Nice one James. Maybe next time you change somebody's hair, you should know how to change it back," Remus logically stated.

          "Well, I think I could help," a small voice said. "My brother did that to me when he came back for Christmas during his first year. I memorized the counter-charm" (A/N- is there such thing?? As I've said, I'm new to this…) the voice belonged to the girl Lily saw go through the barrier. After she had turned Lily's hair back to red, she introduced herself as Arabella Figg. It turned out she was also a first year and had been searching for an empty seat. The group welcomed her and Lily and Arabella instantly became friends. It's something about changing one's hair back to its natural color that brings two people together. Plus, they _were_ the only girls in the crowd and Lily needed a new friend since she wasn't talking to the boys. However, that didn't stop Arabella and Lily from talking _about_ them. (A/N- I know, they're eleven. But I remember when I was that age I did that stuff…)

"So," Arabella whispered to Lily, "Which one of the boys do you think's the cutest?"

"Try none," Lily lied. She personally thought they all were cute in their own way, excluding Peter. However, she was mad at James for turning her hair blue and the others for not telling her so she'd never admit to it, well, at least not at the moment.

Arabella on the other hand was not as close-minded on the matter. She didn't hesitate to tell Lily her personal analysis of all the boys.

"Ok, well, since you don't fancy any of them, I guess I can tell you my views of them all!" Arabella whispered, beaming. She led Lily out of the compartment so as not to be heard. Returning to her normal voice level, Arabella explained her observations.  "Okay, they will be announced in order from cute to GORGEOUS, got it? Good. Starting off will be Peter. At a first glance, all you see is a stuttering pig. However, at a second glance, you will find…a stuttering pig with completely _adorable_ little pudgy cheeks!!! Don't you find that just sweet?" Arabella observed the blank look on Lily's face and took it as a 'no.' "Alright, alright, I get the picture… BUT…next up will be Reeeeeeemusssss LUPIN!"

"Shhh!" Lily scowled. "They'll hear you!"

"So? It's not like they'll care. Can I continue?" She waited for Lily to nod before she started up again. "Okay, Remus Lupin. He's rather mature looking for his age. I _like._ I mean, his eyes, they're just filled with so much…_wisdom_! You gotta love it, huh? Yeah, I totally agree." Arabella agreed without receiving any response from Lily, who was still wearing a blank expression.

"Next up, JAMES!!!!!" Arabella practically screamed!

'Oh, my, God,' Lily thought disbelievingly. 'Could she possibly be any louder…do I really wanna know?"

"There's something about his hair that is totally groovy!" Arabella smiled at the thought. " And his eyes are so…dreamy. Those icy mixtures of blues and grays" Arabella stared into space for a few seconds.

'She does have a point there,' Lily thought but did not hesitate to mentally correct herself, ' BUT he still was completely wrong to have changed my hair…' Lily silently laughed at the prank, 'Now that I think about it, it _was_ sorta funny.' The smile must have spread to her face because within a second of the thought Arabella had practically pounced on her.

"OH MY GOSH!!! YOU LIKE JAMES! YOU LIKE JAMES! YOU LIKE JAMES!" Arabella sang along gleefully. " I was _positive_ that there was at least one of them you liked. I'm just happy it wasn't Sirius!"

"I _don't_ like James!" Lily contradicted.

"Which reminds me," Arabella continued, ignoring Lily, "I haven't told you about **Sirius** yet! Welllll, he is TOTALLY handsome…ugh…he takes my breath away. I mean, have you seen his hair! Oh, its so…LONG!! I totally dig it! And his eyes, ohh, those beautiful eyes, I LOVE brown eyes. They're just so warm, and welcoming, and ohhh… Have I mentioned his hair? It's so…LONG!" Arabella's swooning would've gone on for ages unless she hadn't heard herself being imitated on the other side of the compartment door.

"Oh, _Sirius._ You're just so…_HANDSOMMMMME_…and so…_AHHHHHHHHHH_… and your hair is just so _LONNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG_!" James mimicked, clearly over exaggerating. 

Arabella's lovesick grin soon changed into a vicious scowl. She quickly opened the door and blushed slightly at the picture in front of her. Three boys were lying on the floor, clutching their stomachs and cackling like hyenas. The fourth boy, Sirius, was blushing slightly with a lopsided grin on his face.

          'Oh, I'm _such _an idiot!' Arabella thought to herself.

          'Oh she's _such_ an idiot' Lily agreed, without realizing her friend's thoughts.

          'Does she really like me? A _girl_? Already?' Sirius thought to himself. '**Man**, I'm good!'

          Finally finding her voice, Arabella shouted, "HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN LISTENING?!"

          "Ever since we heard you tell the whole bus how much Lily adores James," Peter said, secretly enjoying the feeling of taunting the innocent. Lily was about to get in an, 'I told you you were loud' when she realized what Peter had just said.

          "She doesn't like me!"

          "I don't like him!" Lily and James shouted at the same time.

          Remus, being the logical one, decided he should end the conversation to prevent making enemies before school had even started. "Okay guys. Until we have actual hard evidence, NOBODY likes ANYBODY, okay? Good. Now, let's settle down. The food trolley's here."

~*~

          Lily was in awe as she saw the food trolley coming into view. She had never seen real wizard's candy before. She had been expecting the usual Muggle sweets, but was amazed at the chocolate frogs that _actually _moved and the Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans that were literally **every** flavor imaginable. Of course, Arabella and the boys had neglected to inform her of this fact until she found herself spitting out a disgustingly familiar flavor she couldn't quite and didn't want to recognize.

          The only true benefit of sharing a compartment with the boys was that between the four of them, they practically cleared the trolley of all its contents. Lily had the chance to overindulge in Pumpkin Pasties, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Cauldron Cakes, and Licorice Wands.

          As the boys greedily stuffed their faces like the gluttons they were, Lily turned to Arabella and whispered something into her ear with a mischievous grin on her face. Arabella turned to Lily, winked and nodded as they planned sweet revenge on the boy who dared turn Lily's hair sapphire! Though Lily was completely fascinated with the wizarding world, she wanted to prank James the Muggle way: simple, but wicked. Therefore, she chose the prank she always played on the boys at her old Muggle school, itching powder in the pants, or robes in this case.

          Arabella's job in the prank was to be the decoy. Lily knew she could count on her friend to somehow keep the boys' attention as she stole James's robes. After all, she had occupied Lily for quite a while with her boy talk. Lily was sure keeping the boys' attention would be as easy as pie for her blue-eyed friend.

~*~

          At Lily's signal (an obvious cough) Arabella nearly killed all the boys as she leapt from her chair, an enthusiastic expression on her face.

          'You gotta love her,' Lily thought as she saw the perfect opportunity to snatch James's robes while the boys made sure all their limbs were still working and picked their food up off the floor.

          "Oh-mi-gosh!!! Do you guys wanna see the pictures of my cats?" Arabella questioned eagerly.

          "Uh…err…SURE!" Sirius said, obviously not interested at all in looking at cats.

          "_Siri_-Why not!" James quickly corrected after Sirius glared at him. 

          "Sure…," the other boys reluctantly agreed, as happy as their other two peers about the 5 minutes they would have to stop eating. These boys sure underestimated Arabella's passion for cats, because 15 minutes later Arabella wasn't even half way through her stack. It was around this time Lily opened the door, snuck James's robes back to where she found them, and slid into a seat, unnoticed by all the boys who were using all of their energy to stay awake.

          Once Arabella had gotten started on her cats, she didn't want to finish talking about them. The moving photos of Arabella's cats had fascinated Lily since Muggle pictures didn't move--that is, for the first five minutes. Even she found herself bored after getting over how the fuzzy furballs in the photo weren't standing still. Eventually, Lily shut Arabella up by telling her the train would be pulling into the school in half an hour and that they'd better change into their robes. Having said that, the boys perked up and ordered the girls to leave the compartment as they changed. 

Lily nudged Arabella as they came back into the compartment. She saw that James was looking rather uncomfortable, but didn't bother do mention the matter. She'd let James find out in his own time. Meanwhile, she and Arabella had to change into their own robes. The tables were turned as the boys found themselves standing in the hall.

Remus was the first to notice James squirming. "You all right James?"

"Yeah, Remus…just got a little itch," James understated.

"Okay," Remus replied, unconvinced. However, he didn't feel like talking to James about his itching problems at the moment. Right now he was worried about the sorting ceremony. After they were welcomed back into the compartment Remus opened the topic of the sorting to the others.

"So guys, what do you think's gonna happen with the sorting?"

"Well, my brother says that you have to go through a really really hard test and they make you do spells. I think you have to turn a button into a mouse! And, and if you don't do it…they send you back on the train to go home!"

"Guys, li-," Lily started, soon to be interrupted by another of her friends.

"Oh no!" James said squirming in his seat, trying to scratch his back. "I can't do any magic like **this**!"

"Like what, Jamsie dear?" Lily sweetly asked. "Feeling a little…_itchy_?"

Immediately James yelled, "UNDO IT!!!"

"Huh?" Lily asked, sincerely confused.

"UNDO THE ITCHING SPELL…I KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" 

"Really James, I didn't put **any** itching spell on you!"

"Right…Like I'm supposed to believe that!"

"You should! I didn't use any magic to make you itch."

"Then what DID you use?" James asked as if magic were the only obvious answer.

"Itching powder. 100% Muggle." Lily stated, proud to have out-smarted James the Muggle way.

"Oh…" James said, embarrassed as everyone burst out laughing. "But, how do you make it stop?"

"Well, the only way is by washing it off, which means…a shower would be the most logical answer."

"But, the SORTING CEREMONY. I don't have a shower until I have a house! How am I supposed to be sorted?"

"Well, it's not too difficult anyways. I was trying to tell you before. I read earlier in _Hogwarts a History-_great book, you know-sorting is done by a hat. All we have to do is sit in a chair, place the hat on our head, and it chooses whether we'll be in Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw. I suspect this is done in front of the school. So the most you'll have to do is sit still for a few seconds."

"Okay," James said, relieved, "and Lily?"

"Yeah James?"

"Do you have any more of that itching powder? It would be great to use on we Wizards. We would never realize a _shower_ would cure us! Great things you Muggles do without magic!"

Smiling, Lily replied, "Why, of course James. Truce?"

"Truce," James stated, glad to have escaped the fiery wrath of Lily.

~*~

 The Hogwart's Express came to a slow halt as it pulled into the station. The group nervously got off the train, leaving their luggage as they'd been instructed. Somewhere out of the darkness came a gruff voice, "Firs' years! This way!" A lamp was lighted and a giant of a man appeared from the black surrounding him. "Follow me. This way firs' years. Is that all of yeh? Any other firs' years out there need teh follow me. This way. C'mon."

James leading the way, the six friends followed the huge man down a steep, slender path. Then, suddenly, they all let out amazed sighs as they saw Hogwarts for the first time, perched on the top of a high mountain. They were standing at the edge of an immense black lake with several small boats lining the shore.

"On'y four to a boat!" Hagrid called. The four boys of course chose their own boat, leaving the girls to share their boat with two strangers. Luck must not have been on their side because onto their boat stepped none other than Severus Snape, a tall thin boy with extremely greasy black hair along with another boy who looked to be the "Slytherin type". He took one look at the two girls, shook his head, and smirked; sure they were the type to end up in Hufflepuff. He soon attempted to amuse himself by getting the girls to believe they'd have to do magic in order to be sorted, but much to his disappointment, the girls already knew the true method.

The boats abruptly took off and started the journey across the lake. Severus took this as a great time to frighten the girls with the legend of the giant squid that he knew was obviously not true. That is, until the squid happened to lift one of its tentacles out of the water. Severus's eyes widened as he saw the squid. But as the girls turned around, the squid's tentacle vanished. By now, the girls thought Severus was just pulling their legs (which wasn't too far from the truth) and took to disliking him from that moment on.

"Heads down!" Hagrid called as the boats approached the cliff on which Hogwarts was perched.

All heads went down as the boats passed through the screen of ivy hiding a huge hole in the cliff's wall. They went through a dim passageway until they reached an underground port, where they climbed out of their boats, about to enter their home for the next seven years of their lives.

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Okay, soo…how was it? I think this chapter was much better than the first one, but towards the end I think it got bad. My mood wasn't that terrific towards the end of the chapter, so I'm sorry if it got a little dry. Well, next chappie, HOGWARTS! Tell me what you think of it so far, and thanks to those who have reviewed (oh, and thanks Jen and Teeny for reading it…hehe. Oh, and Teeny, I got you hooked on fanfics, didn't I?) Well guys, don't be afraid to review! All you have to do is click on the button down there… OH! And just so you know, I think I'm gonna have the next chapter up within the next week, I hope. After all, I got this one up in about 5 days. Maybe your reviews will push me along ((wink wink, nudge nudge)). Well…TTFN!! ***smooches***

DanniBannani


	3. Of Sorting, Dining, and Showers

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters created by JK Rowling. But, anything you don't recognize is mine.

Hello! I am now on the way to the THIRD chapter of That Thing You Do ((hoooraaaay!))! I was thinking about the fifth HP book when I realized…JK said she was gonna give out info on Lily and the gang…soo, if I'm not done with this story when the fifth book comes out (which I probably won't be) then…

TOO BAD!! Haha scared somebody didn't I? Anyways…thanks to all who reviewed the first and second chappies:

~Ju~ Thanks a bunch hunni!!! Yeah, you're right about her parents…maybe I can fix that later…((thinking))…

~Toria~ Thanks a bunches!

~Ebony River~ Your theory about James jumping in the lake now seems very very logical…OOPS! Thanks for reviewing. It's really helpful for a first timer (yup, I really am a first timer)! Oh, and thank you SOOOO much for adding me to your fave author, fic, AND author alert!! THANK YOU! (also, glad you agree with the eleven yr. old topic!)

~Jenny and Teeny~ tee hee… thanks for reviewing!

~Shree~ Hey, thanks for the tips and stuff! You've been so nice to me (though I keep annoying you!! Lol)!

Ok, on with the story…

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Hagrid pounded his fist against the castle door three times. The door quickly swung open, revealing a small, thin witch with silvery hair woven tightly in a single plait. Her green eyes were worn with age and her skin was similar to a prune's. Her face wore a stern expression that immediately softened at the sight of the nervous first years. She cordially nodded towards Hagrid and then directed her attention to the students.

She started in a kind, warm voice "Good evening students. If you would please follow me."

She was about to turn around when a small voice in the crowd shyly asked, "Who are you?"

The woman friendlily smiled, "Professor Geraldine Smith."

She then turned around and guided the first years into the entrance hall, its walls lit with blazing torches, the ceiling stretching high above, and the beautiful marble staircase glowing in the orange light. The students quickly looked around the hall and then followed Professor Smith into a small room off the side of the hall.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. We will soon begin the start of term banquet, but before we commence, each of you will need to be sorted into your appropriate houses. You will be grouped with people who share the same traits as you. These people will later become your family away from home. There are four houses at this school: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff. Each of these houses has produced _wondrous _witches and wizards who have succeeded throughout their life at school. When at Hogwarts, your successes will earn your house points, while your faults and rule breaking will take them away. When the year comes to a finish, these points will be totaled and the house with the greatest amount of points will receive the house cup. All students should consider this to be a great honor," she paused for effect before starting again. "We will be starting the Sorting Ceremony in a few minutes. The rest of the school will be watching." Professor Smith watched as the students' faces changed from solemn to panicked.  "I will return when the ceremony is ready to begin." With that she left the room calling out, "Please remain quiet."

          The students were in a hushed but frenzied state. Many loud whispers were heard telling stories like the ones Remus, James, Lily, Sirius, and Peter had heard earlier that day (A/N- I didn't forget Bella, but she was the one telling them. I just forgot to say so  :s ).

          "I heard that if you don't do it right they-" one voice started.

"EXPEL you!" another finished.

"But, what are we supposed to do?" a nervous whisper asked.

"Oh, we only have to pull a rabbit out of a hat. I could do that yeeeeears ago!" one voice boasted.

"Oh," the whisper nervously replied.

The stories kept getting worse and the unprepared kept fidgeting. The six friends didn't say a word, amazed at the lies the students had heard from friends, family, and the older students who were searching for a good laugh. Nevertheless, the gang soon got nervous too. They had just realized that it was possible they wouldn't be sorted into the same houses. However, they did not have much time to dwell on this thought. Professor Smith had returned and was leading the first years into the Great Hall.

The first years looked in awe at the sight before them. The room was illuminated by thousands of candles floating in mid-air above four tables that stretched the length of the hall. These tables were filled with golden goblets, golden plates, and chattering ghosts and students whose heads were turning to glance at the new students walking in. At the front of the room was the High Table where the faculty was seated. The first years were lead to the space in front of the faculty table, where they stood in a straight line felling stupid as they faced the stares of the entire school.

However, the first years soon realized their elders' eyes weren't on them, but on a battered old hat resting on a four-legged stool. Their faces wore puzzled expressions as they stared expectantly at the hat. To their surprise, the hat sprung to life! A rip by the brim opened like a mouth and the hat started to sing:

                             "_Oh I may not be _

_                             A pretty hat, that ain't a lie, is that?_

_                             But I am smart, if you can't see_

_                             I'd die if another hat were like me_

_                             But simple as that seems to be_

_                             I am the Sorting Hat you see!_

_                             I sort the weak, the brave_

_                             And bold! You shouldn't listen_

_                             To what you've been told,_

_                             Because you'll stay with me, you see?_

_                                      And I will put you where you should be._

_                                      So, come and put me to the test_

_                                      I'll try to place you where you're best!_

                                      Could it be in Gryffindor 

_                                      Where lives the lion's soul?_

_                                      The ones with brave and daring hearts_

                                      In Gryffindor will do their part! 

_                                      Or maybe you shall rest you see,_

_                                      In the place where all the learners be,_

_                                      Where wit and wisdom sit to dine,_

_                                      In Ravenclaw you'd do just fine!_

_                                      Though you may not be strong and buff,_

_                                      There is a place in Hufflepuff_

_                                      Where just and loyalty are true._

_                                      No fear of toil? This place's for you!_

_                                      Or finally in Slytherin,_

_                                      Where cunning people find their friends._

_                                      These people use their strengths within_

_                                      To achieve their goals with no amends._

_                                      So stick me on those noggins clear_

_                                      I won't bite you, so have no fear!_

_                                      You know you're in safe hands m'dear!_

_                                      'Cause I'm the SOOOORTING HAAAAAAT!"_

(A/N-HAHAHAHA! THAT WAS 100% WRITTEN BY ME ME ME ME ME!!!! Though at some points it's a little foggy! Oh well, I'm proud of myself.)

All the old students thundered out a round of applause, while the new students let out sighs of relief to the true sorting method. Soon the noise died down and Professor Smith stepped forward, "I will now call out the names on the list in alphabetical order. When your name is called, please step forward and place the hat on your head," she explained. "Abbate, Jennifer"

A small girl with frizzy blond hair and green eyes shakily walked to the stool and placed the hat on her head, "HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat called after a slight pause. A polite applause came from the Hufflepuff table as Jennifer walked over and sat down. Soon after the A's had finished Professor Smith called out a familiar name, "Black, Sirius!"

Sirius boldly walked towards the stool, plopped down and had barely had the hat on his head when the hat boomed, "GRYFFINDOR!" The Gryffindor table erupted into a deafening applause and several cheers. Some second year girls gave approving looks towards Sirius as he walked to the table and sat down.

Many names later, the professor called out, "Evans, Lily!" Lily put on a brave face and approached the chair. She sat down and listened as the hat commented on her qualities ("Could be good for Ravenclaw, but better be…). "GRYFFINDOR!" the hat cried soon after she placed it on her head. More applause erupted from the Gryffindor table. Lily walked to the table, a smile on her face. She didn't notice the guys' eyes following her as she walked over to Sirius who gave her a paternal pat on the back and started talking to her. They chatted, ignoring their peers' sorting until they heard the name "Figg, Arabella" being called by Professor Smith. At the name, Sirius's ears perked up and he grinned as the hat again called out, "GRYFFINDOR!" The deafening applause started again.

Arabella walked over with a grin as big as the Cheshire cat's. Sirius and Lily enveloped her in a hug and welcomed her to Gryffindor. The hat then sorted several Slytherin and Ravenclaws followed by grand applauses.  After a bubbly little girl ("Leah, Liah!") was sorted to Hufflepuff the name "Remus Lupin" rolled off of Geraldine Smith's tongue. Remus walked over to the hat, looking a little worried. He placed it on his head and sat a short while, while the hat kept pondering where to place him. It was especially confused because Remus had wisdom and learning ability, the qualities of a Ravenclaw; bravery, nerve, and chivalry, the qualities of a Gryffindor; and with his "condition" he wouldn't do too bad in Slytherin. However she decided that the Gryffindor lifestyle would suit Remus best. "GRYFFINDOR!" roared the hat!

Remus's face lit up brightly as he walked over to the Gryffindor table. He was welcomed by his three friends and was glad to be with them instead of the Slytherin. The friends were so engrossed in conversation that they almost didn't hear Peter get sorted into Gryffindor, but they looked up in time to see him proudly walking to the table. They welcomed him like the others and waited for James's name to be called since 'Potter' wasn't too far away from 'Pettigrew.'

A brown-haired girl, Patricia Plumm, was sorted into Ravenclaw. Then the name "James Potter" was heard coming out of Professor Smith's mouth. James coolly walked over to the chair, slightly trembling from the effort used to not go into a fit of scratching. He sat down for about a second when the hat yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!" James walked over to the table and got several winks from the older girls. He found his friends and as he vigorously scratched his arm and then his leg, said,

"I knew I'd be in Gryffindor. Gryffindors have been in my family as long as this school's existed." James explained to his friends.

"Oh, well isn't somebody special!" Lily asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that, considering the strength it took not to scratch my arm off in front of the whole school!" James replied grinning.

"That was meant to be a _rhetorical_ question, James."

"I know," James said winking at Lily, who stuck her tongue out at James when he seated himself next to Lily.

The other five friends just looked at James and Lily, positive they would end up together by the end of their education at Hogwarts. They just wondered…when?

~*~

          The sorting ceremony ended abruptly with Severus Snape, who was sorted into Slytherin. After Severus's name had been called, an old wizard with silver hair stood up at the High Table.

          "Welcome all! Welcome to yet another year at Hogwarts! The banquet will be beginning, right…about…now!"

          At the word 'now' all the dishes on the table filled with an assortment of food: Steak, bacon, roast chicken, roast beef, pork and lamb chops, potatoes, peas, fries, ketchup, and many…**many** other foods.

          Peter, Remus, James, and Sirius just stared at the food in a complete daze. Then while slowly approaching the food with his outstretched pointer finger, Sirius asked carefully, "Is it…_real_?" He soon got his answer as an older student yelled, "EY! Whatcha think yer doin? The food's not gonna bite ya!"

          The spell was broken. The boys soon took their forks and began stabbing at random dishes, piling up their plates to the limit, and still going for more. Arabella and Lily just looked at the boys' greedy actions. They then decided the best they could do was ignore them and soon began filling their plates with a piece of meat, two vegetables, and a piece of bread. 

          They ate and chatted with the boys. James kept looking at Lily, poking her sides, and telling her that if she hadn't have made him itch all over he would be thoroughly enjoying his meal at the moment. He then got an evil glint in his eye, turned the sleeve of his robe inside out, and rubbed if all over Lily's arms and face. She looked at James with a glare that said, "Run or die," but didn't have a chance to do anything because she was overwhelmed with the irritating feeling of little bugs creeping up her arms and face. She was about to rip apart her flesh, when she remembered the golden rule, "Never scratch. It only makes it worse. Seek revenge."

          She then picked up her pumpkin juice, poured it over James's heads and said, "There. Now we're even."

          James's reply was, "Not until I do this." He proceeded to pour his pumpkin juice over Lily's head. "_Now_ we're even." James said laughing.

          Lily looked like she was ready to scream bloody murder when she started laughing too. The both of them sat guffawing while the people around them watched them laugh.

~*~

          Headmaster Dumbledore sat at the High Table with the other professors. He watched Lily and James laughing with soaked heads and thought to himself, 'They will end up together one day.'

~*~ 

          Meanwhile, the four dry friends looked at each other with bemused expressions on their faces. They couldn't understand why their friends were acting so strange. Nobody knew why Lily had poured her juice on James or why James had poured his on Lily or, most of all, why the two were _laughing_ over the matter. To tell the truth, Lily and James didn't know why they were laughing over being soaked and itchy. However, they did know the laughing took their mind off of the irritating little feet marching all over them so they continued laughing until the dishes in front of them filled with deserts. 

          At that point, everyone at the table started fighting over the last pieces of pie and cake. These small battles ended when the desert plates cleared and Dumbledore stood once again.

          "I'm sorry for neglecting to tell you this before, but for those of you who are new to this school, my name is Professor Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts since…last year!" Dumbledore began, "Now, to begin, first years need to know that the Forbidden Forest is, well, forbidden.  And as a special request of our new caretaker, Mr. Argus Filch, we would like to ask that no magic be done between classes in the corridors. Finally, Quidditch tryouts will be during the second week of the term. However, you _must _be in the second year to join the team. Now! Let's our school song!" With a flick of his wrist, the words to the school song shot out of his wand and floated above the hall for everyone to see. "Now choose your favorite melody and one- two- three!

                             _"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts_

_                             Teach us something please…"_

The school bellowed in all different tunes the words that were hanging above the Great Hall. When everyone had finished singing (they finished at different times) Dumbledore declared it was bedtime and the students followed their house prefects to their dormitories. 

          The Gryffindor prefect, Mindy Stout, led the group past talking portraits and behind hidden doors and up several sets of stairs until they finally stood in front of a portrait of a fat lady in a pink silk dress. "Password?" she asked.

          "Whippie Skippo," (A/N-Teeny~remind you of something?) Mindy said. The portrait swung open, revealing a round hole in the wall. Everyone climbed through the hole into the Gryffindor common room, a circular room with a fireplace and comfortable-looking armchairs. Lily and James hurriedly asked where their dorms were located. After they'd been informed Lily went through a door to the left and James through a door to the right where they ran up their spiral staircases and found their dorm rooms…and their awaiting showers. They quickly stripped off all their clothing and hopped into the shower, feeling the agony wash down the drain.

~*~

          As Lily and James enjoyed their showers the other four gathered in the common room talking about the classes that would begin the next day. About ten minutes later James returned in his pajamas and Lily did the same five minutes after him. They stayed up talking until 9:30, when they realized how tired they were and decided it was time to get some sleep. Lily Arabella went up to the first year girls' dorm room while the boys went to the first year boys' dorm room.

          Because there were only four Gryffindor boys that year, Remus, James, Peter, and Sirius had the room to themselves. They quickly changed into their pajamas and went to bed.

          On the other hand, there were two new girls in the dormitory when Lily and Arabella went upstairs. Lily and Arabella quickly introduced themselves to their roommates and found that they were living with Melanie Baker, a quiet girl with shoulder length golden brown hair and kind brown eyes; and Robyn Gillette, a funny Muggle born girl with dark brown wavy locks and violet eyes. The four girls did not have much time to get acquainted with one another because of the low energy they had. They just got changed, went to bed, and anticipated the next day, when they would begin to learn magic!

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DanniBannani~

Okie Dokie, that was chapter 3. I wrote that in ONE DAY!!!! That's what happens when people write nice reviews ((hint hint)). Tee hee, just kiddin. Well, I hope you enjoyed! I enjoyed writing it so... I hope this story isn't boring you too much! Okay, all I need you to do now is to click on the little button down there and review, please! That's all I've gotta say. (again, thanks to all who have reviewed so far!) *smooches*

By the way, how did you like my Sorting Hat song??? (horrible, eh?)


	4. String Cheese and Fiery Little Readheads

Disclaimer- To all who really don't know yet, I DON'T OWN ANYTHING that already belongs to another person, for example JK Rowling. Anything here that you don't recognize is mine, all mine!

To start off, thanks for the reviews and for the nice friendly people who've actually bothered to read this! I was sooo happy earlier because I finally reached 10 reviews!!! For most, that is nothing, but for me it is an ACCOMPLISHMENT! 

*A special thanks to Ebony River for the loooong review! Tee hee. Yeah, I did write that last chapter pretty fast. I probably need to spend more time on the chappies and put in more descriptions! Sorry if the plot is not evident at the moment. I just sit and type and if it sounds good I keep it! Hope I don't bore you too much! It may get more interesting this chapter…*

Now on with the good stuff! (I hope..)

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Lily was twirling around in a field of flowers, arms outstretched. The wind whistled as it slipped through her fingers, cooling her sweaty palms. Her eyes were closed, but still she saw. She saw with her feet, her dancing feet, and she felt with her beating heart. Her wriggling toes laughed as the grass blades tickled them one by one. Her scarlet hair flew freely behind her as she fell backwards onto the cushioning earth; a contented smile lit her face. Lily inhaled the scent of spring, the scent of home, the scent of her past life. The life when Petunia liked her, the life before Petunia went to school, the life before she was hated, the life when she was loved. She opened her eyes towards the sky, expecting to find it littered with white puffy clouds, but instead found herself staring into darkness. She no longer felt the soft earth, but tiny pins pressing into her back, threatening to purse her pale skin and leave a crimson trail running down her spine. She still smelled her home, but this home was dark, had no light, had Petunia. Petunia had changed. Had hated Lily to her fullest. Had tormented her and made her life miserable. Had taken her own pain and selfishly put it on Lily, her innocent younger sister. Petunia had turned Lily's sweet dreams into nightmares. She had turned Lily's clouds into toxic gas, her sunshine into acid rain…her heaven into hell. Petunia…Petunia…Petunia…

***~~~~~~~***

"Petunia…Petunia…Petunia," Lily cried in her sleep. She was shaking. She was afraid, "Stop it Petunia! It's not true! Stop! STOP! **STOP!**"

"Lily! Wake up!" Melanie demanded. She shook Lily's trembling form; more urgent as Lily continued to whimper and tears fell down her cheeks. "Lily! LILY!" Melanie continued to yell. She took a huge breath and shouted into Lily's ear, "**LILY!**"

Lily's eyes snapped open. She looked around in a disorientated state and then she began quivering once again as the tears streamed down her pale cheeks. Melanie wrapped her arms around Lily as she began to sob uncontrollably.

"Shhh…" Melanie soothed. "It's gonna be alright. Don't worry."

But Lily wasn't worrying. She was recalling, recalling all of the events in her past; recalling how she wasn't loved. It had to be true. Her sister told her every day how much her parents didn't love her, how they thought she was an ugly waste of time, how they always faked liking her so she wouldn't cry like a baby and annoy them even more. Lily always told herself it wasn't true, that her parents loved her, and deep down she knew she was right. She only couldn't admit it, because of "Petunia…" Lily thought out loud.

"All right! WHO THE HECK IS PETUNIA AND WHY ARE YOU UP AT FRIGGIN THREE IN THE MORNING?" Arabella yelled, irritated at being awoken from her dreams of Sirius. She marched over to Lily's four-poster and threw open the red velvet curtains.

Melanie was about to explain that Lily had been having a nightmare when Robyn sat up and screamed, "DON'T TAKE ME AWAY MR. FLUBBERS! I'M INNOCENT, I SWEAR!!!" She then collapsed once more into the faraway world of Mr. Flubbers.

At that point, Lily couldn't help but laugh. Melanie joined Lily, but Arabella was still in a grumpy mood and repeated herself, "_Why_ are you up at friggin three in the morning?"

"Lily was having a nightmare of some sort," Melanie started quietly as not to disturb Robyn, "about…Petunia. Lily, who _is_ Petunia?" Melanie asked cautiously. "I mean, you don't have to tell us, but it can help sometimes," she added sincerely.

"Oh…well," Lily was at a loss for words. If she told them about Petunia they would surely agree with her sister and then where would she be? Back to being a freak…'WAIT!' Lily mentally stopped herself, 'Lily, you're not gonna let her do this to you. You're in a NEW place with NEW beginnings. You _have_ to start somewhere. Her mind was set. "Well…Petunia's my sister…" she said shakily.

"Oh…so what happened to her? Is she alright?" Arabella asked, thinking for the worst.

"YES! She's just _fine_."

"And, what's wrong with that?" Arabella inquired, confused.

"Nothing, it's just…" Lily started. 

"Just what?" interrupted Arabella.

"WOULD YOU LET ME FINISH?" Lily asked, aggravated.

"Sure…" Arabella replied sheepishly.

"Well. She told me the truth about everything, y'know? How I'm ugly and stupid and am a low life," Lily said each syllable with self-disgust, "and…and…and that my parents…they…they…," Lily took a deep breath, "they don't really…love me."

Two sets of arms immediately wove themselves around Lily in a warming embrace while pitying cries of, "Oh, Lily!" escaped their owner's lips.

"You're sister is a _complete_, excuse my language, but she's a complete BITCH!" Arabella declared.

"What? You mean, you don't agree with her?"

"OF _COURSE_ NOT!" Melanie and Arabella cried in unison _and_ in shock of Lily's low self-esteem. But then again, she did have that evil sister of hers.

Out of nowhere, a voice stated, "Now, I would really love for you to continue this conversation, but, well, a girl's gotta get some sleep. And, since tomorrow we start classes and everything, I think the best thing for us to do right now is to…well…SLEEP!" 

"**ROBYN**!" Melanie scolded.

"No, she's right. Unless we wanna be struggling to stay awake during our first essential lessons, I suggest that we go to bed now." Lily agreed. "Plus, I think Robyn here wants to be reacquainted with _Mr. Flubbers_" Lily added with a sly grin on her face.

Robyn blushed as the other three girls suppressed giggles, "How did you…?"

"Alright, Lils. If you're sure you're okay…" Melanie said, not wanting to start on the topic or to leave Lily on her own.

"I'm sure. I'll be fiiiiine! G'night gals!" Lily called with false cheerfulness. She closed her curtains and pulled up her sheets.

"G'night!" Arabella and Melanie called to Lily and then to one another as they mimicked Lily's actions and climbed into bed.

Robyn, still wondering how the three knew about Mr. Flubbers, asked, "But how did you—,"

"G'NIGHT ROBYN!" Three voices called in unison.

~~~***~~~

          As the girls drifted once again into their dreams, the other side of Gryffindor Tower was doing the complete opposite.

          "Sirius, you up?" James asked.

          "Wha?" was Sirius's groggy-voiced response.

          "Sirius! All of us are almost ready. Hurry up!" Remus called.

          "But, me and Abrableba were having a nice conversation!" Sirius whined, still half asleep. He didn't look like he'd be getting up anytime soon.

          "Watch this." James mouthed to Peter and Remus. James tiptoed over to Sirius's bed. He carefully pulled back the curtains and knelt by Sirius's ear, whispering two words, "String cheese."

          Sirius shot up out of bed and looked around the room, "WHERE?"

          "Works every time," James muttered to Peter and Remus. "Now Sirius, hurry up and get your supplies."

          "But where's the cheese?" Sirius asked, still searching for his favorite Muggle delicacy (A/N-definitely a delicacy…right…). 

          "Peter ate it. NOW," James quickly changed the topic, "go get your stuff. We're almost ready to go."

          Peter, who hadn't been paying attention, was thoroughly confused as Sirius glared at him. "Why'd you eat it, huh?" Sirius asked, furious. (A/N-THAT RHYMED!!!)

          "What're you talking about?" Peter looked at Sirius as if he was crazy.

          James quickly cut in so as not to reveal his trick for waking Sirius, "Sirius! Get your stuff! If we wanna do this we have to leave NOW!"

          "What? Oh. Okay. I'm coming." Sirius quickly retrieved a sack from under his bed."

          "You ready to do this guys? This will go into history. This will be great. This will be the initiation of us. _The Marauders_. This is it!!!"

          "SHUT UP JAMES!" Peter, Remus, and Sirius cried.

          "Oh, sorry," James wore a guilty grin, "Let's get 'em boys!"

          With that, the four boys crept out of their room into the common room, doing who knows what to who knows who…

~~~***~~~

          The next morning the whole of Gryffindor House, except four devious first years, was in a furious state. Mindy Stout and her crowd of prefects were storming around, flashing their prefect badges, and trying to get everything into order. Sometime in the night, Gryffindor tower had been pranked! Around eight that morning, all students woke up to the sound, smell, and smoke of dung bombs.

          Rumors were spreading around the tower quick as a flash. Stories were heard of Slytherin prefects getting the password from their head of house and sabotaging the Gryffindor's home as revenge for winning the house cup last year. Others were of Slytherin having allies in Gryffindor who were paid to prank their fellow housemates. However, nobody guessed that four measly _first_ years were behind the prank. That is, nobody except Lily Evans.

          She, in fact, found the four boys to be the only logical culprits. She had already had a preliminary experience of their pranks with her hair and therefore knew the boys had been in the pranking business before. Also, the boys all knew each other before they came to Hogwarts, giving them time to plan out the prank and get their supplies. Plus the fact that they were the only people in the room who were laughing and didn't smell like manure.

Lily marched across the room, fuming, and scolded the boys with fire on her tongue, "Do you find this _amusing_?? Did you even **think** about what would happen when you let those horrid things explode in everyone's rooms? Did you REALIZE that people would actually be _affected_ by this stunt? Did you REALIZE that we have our first CLASSES today and that we will be _LATE_??!" At this point, the entire common room, who had been staring at Lily's sizzling rage, lit up at the thought of being late to classes on the first day back. After Lily had stormed off to her room to take yet another shower, students started walking up to the boys patting them on the back and praising them with, "Well Done"'s and "Nice One"'s. The Marauders had been smiling the whole time until a middle-aged witch with onyx hair pulled in a tight bun walked in, fists clenched at her sides, and rage visible in her narrowed green eyes. The smiles were immediately wiped off their faces as the woman screamed, "Who is responsible for this mess?" All fingers pointed to the boys and they looked at their shoes…afraid of what would come next.

The enraged woman strode over to where the boys were standing and sternly demanded, "Follow me." She then, with a flick of her wand and a few muttered words, cleared all the damage the boys did to the common room and began to march towards the portrait hole.

The four boys scampered after her not wanting to upset the already infuriated woman. They followed her out of the portrait hole, through many hallways, and eventually ended up outside a door. The woman muttered another set of inaudible words and flicked her wand again, unlocking the door to her office.

~~~***~~~

          'Who the hell does this lady think she is?' James thought as he walked into her office.

          As if on cue, the woman sat down at her desk and turned to the boys, "My name is Professor McGonagall, _head_ of Gryffindor House." Her brows furrowed, showing premature wrinkles as she scrunched up her face with fury, "And I presume you be Misters Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew, if I'm not mistaken."

          The four preteens hesitantly nodded their heads,wondering that if they shook their heard in denial, she would let them leave without punishment.

"Such a pity, to see some of our freshest students already getting into mischief. Though you four are new to Hogwarts, the policy remains the same. You get into mischief, you lose house points. BUT, considering the fact that it is the first day and classes have not yet commenced, I will be quite generous towards you. Sixteen points from Gryffindor, four from each one of you. However, your punishment is not over yet. Along with cleaning out the dorm rooms I could not clean myself, you will each be given a detention to be served tonight with Mr. Filch. I will meet you in the Gryffindor commons at 8:30 sharp where I will take you to the trophy room, being that you don't know where it is. You should be glad that I am feeling quite nice today. And yes Mr. Black. You _will_ be missing dinner." She then changed her strict voice into an airy, light-hearted tone, "That is all. Close the door on your way out."

          All four boys scampered out of the room as if there were no tomorrow.

~~~***~~~

          When they finally arrived at breakfast, the Marauders were greeted at the door by Professor Dumbledore's cheerful grin. "Good morning boys. I suspect you had a good night's rest?" Dumbledore asked with a knowing wink.

          "Why, y-yes Professor." Peter managed to reply.

          "Good. I suppose you four will be needing these." Dumbledore handed each of them their class schedules and watched them file into the Great Hall, a smile playing at his creased face.

          As their fellow Gryffindors began to notice them, Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter were given a whopping round of applause. Sirius bowed his head until he was practically somersaulting; James raised his hands over his head like he'd just won the World Cup; Peter did a mixture of the two, while Remus just politely smiled and bowed his head.

          An older boy from the other end of the table yelled to James, "So what'd McGonagall give ya?"

          "Oh. Only a detention with Filch, scrubbing the dorms spotless, and no dinner." James replied, as if it was nothing.

          "MAN! You got off easy!" the boy shouted.

          The four just rolled their eyes, clearly mistaking the boy's genuine statement for a joke. This made them appear even cockier which gave them still more popularity points. Everyone was thinking how cool these first year boys were turning out to be—except for one fiery little redhead (A/N- I know this phrase gets used and overused…but it just fit!). She just sat with a scowl on her face as the boys were praised for breaking the rules.

          Arabella watched her friend's face turn to a dark shade of cherry red and her eyes start to twitch as her anger level amplified.

          "POTTER!" Lily abruptly stood up and stomped over to the cheering James and knocked him upside the head. "BLACK!" She turned to Sirius and pushed him over so that he _did_ somersault. "PETTIGREW!" She twisted her body to face Peter and knocked him backwards onto his bum (A/N-I just LOVE that word). "LUPIN!" She faced Remus, whom she merely wagged her finger at, considering he wasn't doing anything too boisterous. "HOW **DARE** YOU ACCEPT THIS…THIS…THIS _PRAISE_ FOR COMMITING SUCH AN ACT!!! WE COULD HAVE BEEN _LATE_ TO _CLASSES_, NOT TO **MENTION** THE FEELING OF BEING WOKEN BY SUCH A **FOWL ODOR!!!" Lily screamed with disgust towards their acts while she grimaced at the thought of what the boys had done. She then proceeded to smack each of them on the head and stormed out of the Great Hall, most probably to her first class, Transfiguration. And this event right here was how Lily Evans began to be known by all of Hogwarts as the one not to cross: AKA-Fiery Little Readhead (A/N-whoa! And there it goes again!)**

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Ok, ok…that's all for now! Did you like it?? Tell by reviewing…please? ;)  Oh and read my friend's story! It's pretty good so far…(and review it too!!!) Hehe, no pressure. And if you want me to mention ur story on here too, just ask. You know how (post it on ur review that you WILL put up!!! lol) Oh, and you can find my friend under:   GravityDrop    ok? Ok. Thanks…next chapter will be up sorta soon because I'll be cooped up in my house for a WHOLE WEEK…doing nothing but reading and writing fics b/c it's too dangerous to leave the house because I'm American and there will be anti-american protesters where I live…but I'm sure none of you really care about that so I'll shut up now…ok…that's all. Thanks to all who've reviewed!!!

~*~DanniBannani~*~

Oh, and by the way. In case you didn't know (I have a few friends who don't) string cheese is this cheese that comes in a cylindrical form (I'd say a half cm radius…not doing inches 'cause if you know inches, you prob. know string cheese). You grab the cheese at the top and split it (sorta like with ribbon) and it comes off like a string (hints the name…string cheese). And no, it is not a delicacy. It is just an easy snack for a mom who doesn't want a mess…


	5. WinGARdium, LeviO My Heck!

Disclaimer~ I don't own anything at all that you recognize. Those things belong to the famous JK Rowling. However, anything/one here that you had no idea existed is mine!!!!

~DanniBannani~Thanks to all who've reviewed~I finally got 20! It's because of you that I continue writing…well, I would continue anyways…but you guys are the ones who make me WANT to continue…and you give me some nice pointers which are really helpful! Thanks for the little hints (especially from Ebony River) of what you think would make a good story! They're really really helpful and I'll try to somehow incorporate those little ideas into my story! Well…hope you enjoy!

On with the next chappie…

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          After Lily had stormed out of the Great Hall, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were in a state of pain and shock. They never thought Lily was capable of having such a temper—that was, until then.

          When the whole of school snapped out of their shocked trance, they immediately began pointing and laughing at the four boys who had just been beat up by _one **single** girl_. The boys were filled to the rim with embarrassment and suspected Lily had made the huge scene just to humiliate them. Au contraire, Lily was completely serious about her fury with the boys' actions.

          As she trod, angrily muttering, towards the Transfiguration classroom she realized she was completely and utterly lost. She cursed under her breath and gazed around the hallway not at all familiar with her surroundings. She checked her Muggle watch, relieved to find she still had half an hour until class started. As she scurried around and searched the halls like a scavenging field mouse, Lily suddenly heard a kind, worn voice. She looked around the hall but saw no one.

          "Over here dear! Look at the _wall_!" the voice called. Lily snapped her head around, emerald eyes as wide as a startled fawn's. She searched the walls, trying to find the person she had obviously overlooked the first time she scanned the area. But to her surprise, she found that no one was in the hallway. She was certain. However, as she once again explored the walls she saw…a plump old woman in a flowing silvery gown practically doing jumping jacks in her picture frame, trying to get her attention. Was she imagining things?

          But as soon as the thought came to her mind the woman slipped, her feet coming from up under her and she disappeared from view. Lily was sure she heard a loud, "Oof!" as the woman fell to the ground.

          "Are—are you okay?" Lily asked the empty portrait.

          "Why of course! Finally, dear, you noticed me!" The woman suddenly popped into view again, her shocking white hair slightly disheveled, and brushed herself off. "Now what _seems_ to be the problem? I couldn't help but notice that a pretty little girl was roaming this unused hall in a state of panic!"

          Lily blankly stared at the portrait for a moment until she found her voice and slowly answered the woman's question, "Um...I seem to be lost. You see, I was trying to find the…the…the…err… Transfiguration classroom, but, hehe, silly me! I um...I um…got lost. And now I don't have a clue where I am."

          "_Oh!_ Is that it?" The woman asked, expecting something much worse. Lily nodded and the woman continued, "The Transfiguration classroom is in the hallway parallel to mine! _I_ am the portrait who guards **the** room with two entrances! One is right here in front of you, and then the other is right across from the Transfiguration class you're searching for. Now don't you fret! I'll allow you entry and you'll get to your class right on time! And you can come back to me anytime you would like. I'll remember you! But if you want to enter from the Transfiguration hallway you _must_ remember the password 'snoggle snout!' My sister, (she then muttered some words that sounded somewhat like…_the stupid witch_…or was another rhyming word used?) guards the other entrance and does not trust anybody. Even if I, her _dearest sister_, tell her to do so!" Lily quickly glanced at her watch, checking the time, "Now, I guess I should stop talking so you won't be late for class!" the woman took Lily's hint.

          "Thanks for your help…err…" Lily would have continued, but didn't know her name.

          "Helga!" The woman jollily finished.

          "Thank you Helga." Lily completed her sentence politely.

          "Oh, it's a pleasure to help a fellow damsel in distress!" She then swung open, allowing Lily entrance to the much-needed shortcut.

          As Lily slowly stepped into the room her jaw nearly dropped to the floor with awe. She observed the room and found it to be absolutely perfect! There was a huge comfy-looking four-poster bed. Its duvet was a warm, green color with huge plump creamy white pillows. One wall of the large room was lined with book-filled bookshelves, all a beautiful mahogany in color. The walls of the room were painted a dark shade of green with cream trim. The wall opposite the bookshelves was equipped with a hearth that was surrounded by two armchairs and a loveseat that resembled the lovely bed with their green shade and huge creamy white pillows.

          Lily quickly looked around the last two walls and found they had faux windows that brought bright light into the room, giving it the feel of her bedroom at home. Lily promised herself she would come back to the room soon and memorized 'snoggle snout' before she rushed out of the room towards the second entrance.

          She slipped into the crowded hall, unnoticed by all, and quickly crossed it to what she hoped was the transfiguration classroom. She peeked into the doorway to find Arabella, Robyn, and Melanie sitting worriedly in seats near the front of the room. Lily quietly walked in, sat in the seat next to Arabella, and lightly tapped her on the soldier. When Arabella turned to see who had tapped her, the worried expression on her face changed to one of relief!

          "Lily!" she cried. "I was so worried! Where on earth have you been?"

          The other two girls heard Arabella and waited anxiously for Lily's reply.

          Lily thought about telling her friends the truth. But then thought better of it. She decided there might be a time when she'd need to be alone and she **knew** thatwould be near impossible if the three girls knew of the secret room Helga had somewhat given her. 

          Therefore, she replied to Arabella's question with a vague, "Around, just walking off my anger."

          "Okay…" Arabella said unconvinced, but not wanting to push the subject.

          At that moment the Marauders and a few Hufflepuffs, the house that would be joining them in Transfiguration, walked in.  James looked at Lily as if she had murdered his mother. But then again, she had somewhat slaughtered his blossoming ego. 

          "Thanks a lot Lily," he said in a tone sore losers would use. "Now we look like idiots."

          "No problem! Anytime!" Lily retorted in an annoyingly sarcastic tone.

          James just shot her a look of disgust and seated himself with his friends in the back of the room. Soon after, a cat noiselessly padded into the room and agilely jumped into the professor's chair. The class burst out laughing at how funny the cat looked taking the place of the professor. However, the cat suddenly _was_ Professor McGonagall,

          "May I ask what is so hilariously funny?" she inquired.

          The class instantly quieted as McGonagall continued, "That's what I thought." She smiled to herself, loving the astonished expressions on her student's faces. "My name is Professor McGonagall and I will be teaching you Transfiguration during your stay at Hogwarts. Now, by the end of this class period I expect you to have learned something. Therefore, you will be turning one of these beetles," she held up a small jar of live beetles, "into buttons by the time I dismiss you. Now, if you would just look at me and follow my directions you should most certainly be able to complete this simple task."  She then proceeded to teach them the basics of transfiguration and left them to themselves to figure out how to change the beetle into a button. She didn't expect more than two or three students to actually transfigure the beetle properly. She just figured the students would put more effort into transfiguring if they thought they'd look stupid if they did not do well. 

          Surprisingly, about fifteen minutes after assigning the task, a student approached McGonagall's desk. She wearily looked up, expecting to find that she'd have to take a student to the hospital wing. Was she surprised when she saw James Potter, the one who she'd just punished for pranking Gryffindor House, standing in front of her, hand held out with a shiny black button boldly standing out on his palm! She looked up at him disbelievingly and said, "Mr. Potter. I would like you to actually _transfigure_ the beetle into a button. Not just pluck a button off your shirt and pretend you've actually done so."

          "But professor, I_ have_ transfigured the beetle!" James stated. "Watch!" He then ran to the jar Professor McGonagall had kept the beetles in and got a beetle. He placed the beetle on the professor's desk and exactly followed the instructions McGonagall had given the class earlier. And as he said he had done before, he made the beetle stop crawling around and change into a button.

          "Well, I have to say Mr. Potter, I am _very_ impressed. Most students can't make a button like that within the first _two weeks_ of taking this course, let alone _fifteen_ minutes." McGonagall informed, clearly proud that the student who had done such amazing work was in her house, "For such excellent work, I will award Gryffindor ten points!"

          James proudly smiled and walked back to his seat, head held high. He looked over to Lily, who was struggling to keep her button from walking off her desk, and smirked. He walked over to her desk and from behind covered the moving button with his hand so it couldn't escape. Lily was obviously trying to ignore him, so he yanked her ponytail and she slowly rotated her neck so she was facing James and coldly asked, "What?"

          "Well, I just wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier today," James started, trying to sound sincere, but a hint of anxiousness was in his voice, "—and I wanted to tell you that you're doing it completely wrong." And that was why.

          "Okay Mr. Transfiguration-expert-person. How exactly am I supposed to do it?" Lily asked, disturbed that the prankster was doing better than her in a class.

          "Well, McGonagall said specifically to move your wand to the left and then down very firmly. You're way to loopy."

          "Oh, really?"

          "Yeah."

          "Fine. I'll do it _your_ way." She followed James' instructions and looked in shock as her scurrying button stopped moving. James was right. "_Thanks,_" Lily forced out.

          "No problem," James responded, biting back the 'I told you so' that was threatening to slip out. 

He was about to turn around when Lily looked at him, sighed and said, "You're forgiven."

He simply replied, "So are you," and walked back to his desk, seeing Lily head to McGonagall out of the corner of his eye. As he sat down he saw McGonagall's face light up once again as she awarded Gryffindor ten points. Little did he know that five of those were for his helping Lily.

~~~***~~~

          "And welcome to CHARMS!" a midget of a man beamed as he looked towards his class, "I am Professor Flitwick and will be teaching you several wondrous little spells for the next years of your life! Now, because you are new I would like to start off very simple with you reading pages 1-2 in your book. After all of you are sure you understand everything within those pages please inform me and we may begin the levitating charm!"  Flitwick finished in his squeaky voice. He stepped down from the stack of books he'd been standing on and sat at his seat (which was also stacked with books so he could see above his desk).

          Lily quickly opened _The Standard Book of Spells_ and began reading the two pages with interest. She finished after most of the class because she was the only one who actually read the assigned text thoroughly and repeated times. 

          When the entire class had finished reading Robyn walked to Professor Flitwick's desk and said, "Uh, professor? We're all done reading."

          "EXCELLENT!" Flitwick exclaimed in his squeaky voice, clapping his hands together, "Now, would you be a dear and get those feathers down from the 4th shelf for me?"

          "Of course professor," was Robyn's reply. She walked to the shelf and found the feathers to be right at her eyelevel. She shrugged and retrieved the feathers.

          "And could you please give everybody one feather?" asked Professor Flitwick. "Only one for now!" 

          "Yes professor." 

          After all the students had gotten their feathers Professor Flitwick once again mounted his pile of books and stood up in front of the class.

          "Now, to begin! You will need to know the wand movements. For this charm it will be the _swish_ and _flick_." He then did the wand movements himself, showing the class the proper procedure for the Levitating Charm. "Has everyone understood how we move the wands?"

          "Yes professor," the class mumbled in unison.

          "Wonderful! Now we will learn the incantation. Now everyone listen to me. _Wingardium Leviosa_! Notice the emphasis on the 'GAR' and the 'O'. This is essential for the spell to work out properly…Along with the proper wand movements. The, what class?"

          "_Swish _and _Flick_," the class again mumbled in unison. Only a few students actually replied with enthusiasm, those being Ravenclaw students and Lily.

          "Alright then. I believe you are now ready. Everyone settle down and concentrate on the feather in front of you. You may begin."

          The classroom was filled with several _Wingardium Leviosa_s and _swishes _and _flicks_. However, nobody got the feather to rise on the first try—except for Lily.

          "Well done Miss Evans!" Professor Flitwick cried, "Five points to Gryffindor!" Lily beamed and proudly guided her feather into the air with her wand. After Professor Flitwick had taken his attention off Lily to help Peter, Lily looked around the room and noticed James attempting to levitate his feather. She was positive he was saying the incantation correctly, but noticed his _swish_ and _flick_ was way too stiff. To get his attention she directed her feather to float before his eyes. When he finally looked up at her, she mouthed to him,

          'You're doing it wrong…Let me help.' James ashamedly nodded and watched as she came towards him.

          "Okay, I am certain you can say _Wingardium Leviosa _correctly, HOWEVER_,_ I noticed that your _swish_ and _flick_ was way too stiff. Show me again so I can be sure." James swished and flicked his wand and Lily found herself to be correct. "Yes, way too stiff. Now to fix that you need to relax your hand and let your wand move in a loopy motion like this." Lily showed him the proper wand movements and then looked at him as if to say, 'now you try.' James mimicked Lily's actions. "Great!" Lily praised. "Now all you have to do is say the incantation and the feather should float!"

          James took in a breath and said, "_Win-GAR-dium Levi-O-sa_!" The feather raised from his desk and James turned to thank Lily for the help, "Th—Oh my heck! Lily!" 

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Dunh..dunh..DUNH!!!!! Oh my heck (by the way, that's from a girl off Survivor…my sister always made fun of her little phrase so I decided to add it into my fic)!!! What's happened to Lily? _I_ know! But _you_ won't find out till next chapter (ahhh..the benefits of being a fanfic writer). Okay, if you review then I'll try and update this ASAP! And if you don't…I'll wait a WHOLE DAY…oh no! The _horror!_ Well…that's all for now…hope you enjoyed! Please review. If you write 'em too, you know the great feeling when somebody reviews your story! We can spread the good feeling…c'mon guys, PLEASE? I don't care if you write two words (1.great 2.story!)  Lol..ok. Oh, and if there were a lot of mistakes this time or if the story was weird please forgive me! My friend is out of town and therefore couldn't tell me if I was going waaaaaay out of control! Well, TTFN!

~DanniBannani~


	6. The Sick Ones

Disclaimer~ I don't own anything here that you recognize. However, if there are any characters, spells, or any other things (such as the plot) that you don't recognize…well it belongs to me!

Okay…I don't have that much to say, really. Thanks to all who've reviewed!!! I've got TWENTY-FIVE in two weeks!!!!! Wowzers! That's all for now, so…

On with the fic…

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          "Lily?" James called once again. However, the pretty redhead showed no sign of responding to James. She didn't look like she'd respond to anyone. She was too busy trying to control her breathing. Her only problem was that every time she tried to get air, her throat just seemed to get tighter, her air supply decreased, and a soft wheezing sound escaped her throat.

          "Professor! Come quick!" Lily heard James call, a hint of panic in his tone.

          "Yes James—oh my! Miss Evans!" The petit man rushed over to the wheezing Lily. "We need to get her to the hospital wing, quick!"

          "Professor Flitwick then summoned a stretcher and levitated Lily to the hospital wing as her ran, trailed closely be seven ashen-faced friends. Upon reaching the hospital wing, Professor Flitwick muttered an incantation and the door to the hospital wing burst open.

          "Poppy! Poppy!" he yelled.

          "What is it?" asked Madam Poppy Pomfrey, a young plump nurse with dark chestnut hair and almond eyes (A/N-nutty!), as she came around the corner. "Oh my!" was her response to seeing the now unconscious Lily. "Quick! Get her to a bed and then you must leave IMMEDIATELY! She won't be cured with all of you watching my every move." After she realized Lily's friends and the Professor didn't plan on going anywhere she yelled once again, "Alright! Stop staring at me like I'm crazy and get a move on! Shoo! Out! Now! Before I have to **make** you leave. Don't doubt me! I've done it before and I'll do it again." She then pushed them all out the door before sweetly turning to Remus, smiling sympathetically, and slamming the door in their faces.

~~~***~~~

          "What was _that _all about?" Sirius asked Remus, referring to the sympathy he received from the nurse.

          Remus simply shrugged his shoulders, claiming to have no clue, but was really thinking about the full moon that night. He hated the fact that he was who he was, hated the fact that he had to constantly lie to his friends, hated the fact that if he didn't he'd have no friends. Be this as it may, Remus knew it was his life, the lowly life of a werewolf, and nothing…NOTHING…could change that, so he thought.

          As Remus's bitter thoughts raked through his brain the rest of the group chatted concernedly about Lily.

          "Do you think she'll be okay?" Peter asked, genuinely worried. (A/N- I know, we hate Peter…but he was a good enough guy to become the secret keeper, right?)

          "I dunno…I hope so," replied a nervous Melanie.

          "Me too," Robyn agreed, "but what really happened?"

          "I don't quite remember. All I know is that James here called me and I rushed over, thinking he had done the charm, only to find Lily having some sort of…I don't know what!" Flitwick replied. He then realized that most of his class was (hopefully) still in the classroom, unattended. "You seven are dismissed. You should go get some lunch. You're all looking very pale. But now I must go make sure my class is still in one piece!" Having said that, Flitwick waddled down the hall, as fast as his tiny legs would allow.

          Snapping right back into the conversation, Sirius asked James, "So, what happened? You were the only one who really saw."

          "Oh, well Lily was, err…, well that's not really important," James mumbled, reluctant to admit he needed help.

          "Oh, is somebody afraid to admit they needed help from a girl?" asked Arabella pointedly.

          "N-no! I was just…err…"

          "Would you stop mumbling and tell us what happened already?!" viciously snapped the seemingly quiet Melanie, receiving shocked stares.

          "Ok, fine!" James yelled. "She had just shown me how to move my wand the right way—"

          "Yeah, you _were_ way too stiff," Sirius noted and the rest of the group nodded and mumbled agreements.

          "Well, I'm sorry if I don't move my wand the right way, but if you don't stop interrupting me I won't get a **chance** to tell you what happened!" James paused for breath and then continued. "As I was saying before I was so _rudely_ interrupted, Lily was helping me with my **stiff** wand movements. She had shown me the right way and my feather rose when I tried the charm again. I was about to thank her-yes guys, _thank_ her-when I noticed her face had gone really red and she was wheezing. So then I called Flitwick and you know the rest." Everyone paused, taking in what James had just told them.

          "So, what do you think it is?" Peter asked the question everybody had been wondering. All except Remus shook their heads. Soon, all eyes were on him, expecting him to know the answer.

          "Remus?" with one word James asked if he could diagnose Lily's condition.

          "Huh?" was Remus's only reply, as he was still in the land of the lost at the time of the question.

          "What's wrong with Lily?" James asked impatiently.

          "Oh…" Remus replied coming back down to Earth. He stopped, stood and unhurriedly let the thought be processed in his brain, "James, how am I s'posed to know?" James just rolled his eyes and the others groaned with exasperation.  "I'm hungry. When can we eat?" was Remus's response.

"I say we eat now and then go visit Lily, though I don't have much of an appetite at the moment." Robyn suggested. Everyone found that to be the most logical thing to do and followed her to the Great Hall where lunch awaited.

~~~***~~~

           "Mmmmm…" Sirius moaned as he took a bite of his cheese sandwich, "I just looove cheese!"

          "I don't." Peter stated, "Because it seems that whenever you eat cheese you fa—"

          "Feel miserable!" Sirius saved-somewhat.

          Arabella and the other girls pretended they hadn't heard what Peter had been hinting at. However, Remus and James looked towards Peter and mouthed, 'I know!' Sirius just sat, beginning to resemble a ripe tomato as his embarrassment trebled. He wore a lopsided grin, but his eyes were shooting daggers at Peter.

          Eventually, Sirius finished eating his cheese sandwiches and the seven friends rushed back to visit Lily. They had no more classes that day and planned to spend all of their free time with her, or at least persuading Madam Pomfrey to let them see her.

~~~***~~~

          "Excuse me?" Melanie shyly asked as she knocked on the hospital wing door that stood ajar, "May we come in…t-to see Lily?" After receiving no response, she cautiously took a step inside the room, but before she'd even had a chance to blink, the pudgy nurse came storming around the corner.

          "Oh no you don't!" Poppy called to Melanie, who had already removed her foot from the 'forbidden' wing.

          "But-" Melanie tried to explain.

          "No but's! Out!"

          Now, Sirius had persuaded many a person in his time and thought it was about his time to take over. Putting on an innocent smile and a goody two-shoes tone he started, "Mrs…I'm sorry. I didn't happen to catch your name."

          "_Madame_ Pomfrey." Poppy replied, agitated.

          "Oh, what a _lovely_ name! Please, I hope you'll understand that we have been worried **sick** about our dearest friend, Lily, and will only find our comfort in knowing all is well when we see her."

          "I assure you, she's well young man. No need to see her."

          Remus decided to cut in before Sirius made matters worse, "Please excuse Sirius, Madam Pomfrey. I'm afraid he's eaten one cheese sandwich too many and now I fear he has a severe case of gas." As if on cue, Sirius's stomach made a weird bubbly noise, confirming Remus's conviction. "He never is quite himself in that state. But I have to agree with Sirius on visiting Lily. I would like to be sure that she is okay before I have to go visit my…sick grandmother tonight." Remus added quietly.

          Madam Pomfrey's expression hinted that she was completely unconvinced by Remus's explanation…until she heard about his 'sick grandmother.' Her stone cold features softened and she sighed, beaten. "Very well…but only for a moment!" she added, regaining her strict composure.

          The crowd of first years rushed into the Hospital Wing, quickly finding Lily's bed.

          "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" Sirius could be heard yelling. Everybody thought he was complimenting Remus's great explanation until they realized he was looking at and rubbing his stomach. "Oh, you too Rem," Sirius added, noticing the astonished stares he was receiving.

          "Hi guys," a weak voice suddenly said.

          "Lily!" practically the entire room yelled joyfully.

          Lily was immediately showered by hugs and similar questions she didn't hesitate to answer. She explained how she had had an allergic reaction to the feather and that she'd be fine as long as she stayed away from them. Still, Madam Pomfrey wouldn't allow her to leave until the next morning.

          A few hours later Sirius had just told a hilarious joke and the group of friends were in stitches making a ruckus in the normally silent wing. Unfortunately Madam Pomfrey heard them and realized it was time for them to 'leave Lily to rest' since she'd had a 'hard, long day.' Five students hurriedly left the wing, fearing Madam Pomfrey would 'make them leave' while two students, Remus and James, stayed behind for different reasons.

          James, who had stayed by Lily's bed as the others left turned to Lily and said, "Thanks…for helping me with Charms today."

          "And you, James, for helping me with Transfiguration." Having finished what he'd really come to do, James quickly exited the Hospital Wing with a small smile and wave to Lily before Poppy took notice of his presence and had a royal conniption.

~~~***~~~

          Meanwhile, Remus approached Madam Pomfrey who simply asked, "Are you ready dear?"

          Remus merely gulped and nodded, not at all feeling up to the night that was ahead of him. He especially wasn't looking forward to the rest of the month. This was because an early full moon meant it was a month of a Blue moon. Remus wasn't looking forward to a double dosage, especially it being his first month at school. But he couldn't do anything at all about it. He either went with Madam Pomfrey, or endangered his friends, giving away his secret.

          Remus definitely didn't want to do that so he followed Madam Pomfrey out of the room, dragging his feet with his head hung low, staring at the ground. After exiting the castle they crossed school grounds until they came upon a thrashing tree.

          Breaking the odd silence, Madam Pomfrey spoke, "This, my dear, is the whomping willow. Stand back and watch me."

          Remus obeyed and watched as Madam Pomfrey grabbed a stray branch and prodded a single knot on the tree's trunk. The thrashing tree halted mid-swing, and suddenly was immobile. There was an opening in the ground near the tree's roots and Remus pessimistically thought he would be locked up in a muddy hole for several nights of the year. Yet, Madam Pomfrey walked into the hole, gesturing towards Remus to follow her. 

          As he entered the gap between the roots, Remus realized he was in some sort of underground tunnel. After walking for about ten minutes he saw a small square of light in the distance that kept growing as he approached it. Suddenly he saw Madam Pomfrey climb upwards and out of the tunnel through the hole of light. Remus again followed and found himself in an old, dusty room. It had an eerie feel to it with its boarded up windows and sheet-covered furniture. The dust on the floor was so thick Remus felt his feet sink as he walked across the floor. 

          At this point Madam Pomfrey checked her wizard watch, which read, 'you need to leave…SOON!' She turned to Remus again smiled sympathetically, "Well, I better be off. You see this trap door here? I'm going to lock you in. I'll be back for you in the morning. Have…have a nice night," she quickly added as she descended through the trapdoor. Remus heard the click of the door being locked and thought to himself, 'Whelp. Here goes…'

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~DanniBannani~

Okay…so…how was it? Sorry it was a little short (only 2035 wds) I hope you weren't too disappointed. I tried my best! Well, tell me what you think and REVIEW! C'mon guys! You can do this…just…try…c'mon…your mouse is slowly moving…dragging the arrow towards the 'GO' button…closer…Closer…CLOSER…


	7. Seeing Red

Disclaimer~ Now, just so you don't get angry and sue I would like to inform you that I own absolutely none of the wonderful ideas and characters of the great JK Rowling. Au contraire, anything here you see that is not hers…is well, most likely MINE!!!!

DanniBannani~ I just wanna say thanks a bunches (hehe…bunches…bananas…bannani…haha…::cowers in seat as she realizes what a fool she is:: I'll shut up now…) to all of the people who have reviewed my incredibly boring fic! It takes a great person to put themselves through such torture by reading it…and then put torture themselves even more by…REVIEWING IT…it takes a real soul to do that! Okay…now this is the part where I shut up and…

Go on with the story…

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As Lily lay bored as a stick in the hospital wing, drowsily awaiting the following day, she heard a distant howl of pain and misery. She was immediately reminded of the childhood campfire stories that she and her friends told of werewolves and other fantastical creatures. As she nonchalantly looked out the window, she noticed the bright silvery orb known as the moon. Her brain started ticking and she began wondering why exactly Remus had left the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey... just before dark... on the night of a full moon. However, in a split second her eyelids felt unbearably heavy and her mind was void of all thought as she drifted off into a dreamless sleep, never again to think about what she was about to discover ...for a while, at least.

~~~***~~~ 

"Wake up sleepy head!" James whispered into Lily's flushed ear.

Her eyelids slightly fluttered and James could have sworn he heard her mumble, "Not now 'Tunia…lemme sleep!"

"Liiilllllly! C'moooon. Madame Pomfrey says you can leave!" James whined.

His only sign that she'd even slightly heard him was the mere flubber that escaped her lips and a swat in the face.

"Lily…" James looked at Lily's sleeping form. 'She looks really pretty and peaceful in her sleep…' James thought subconsciously, 'I don't want to disturb her…but I have to…" He thought about his ways with Sirius and wondered what would get her up. Leaning over Lily he shook her shoulders and declared in a panicky tone, "Lily! We're gonna be late!! Hurry up!"

"Huh?!" Lily shot up quickly, bumping her head with James'.

"OUCH!" They both cried as their brains throbbed.

"Sorry," Lily uttered, blushing at her clumsiness, but then her emerald eyes widened as she saw red, "JAMES POTTER! Why are YOU in MY dorm?! A _girls'_ dorm?" Lily barked, outraged before realizing her sanitary surroundings. "Oh…tee hee…sorry…"

"Er…no problem, I guess" James quickly replied as he thought, 'Man! She has a quick temper! But then again, don't _all_ redheads?' He then paused, rubbing his head, "So, you ready to head to breakfast? Madam Pomfrey said you could leave and I was sent up by everyone to get you since they were all too lazy to walk all the way to the hospital wing. Quite frankly, I think they just wanted to eat breakfast. BUT, _I_ wanna eat breakfast too…so could you hurry?" James explained and asked in one breath.

"Wha-" Lily had a brain ache from thinking too early in the morning and James' mile-a-minute mouth wasn't helping at all. "Oh…sure. Hold on." Lily jumped out of bed, donned in a hospital nightgown, ready to walk out the door.

"Umm. Li-Lily?" James asked, his head turned and his eyes shielded by one of his hands. "Uh…you may wanna put on your school uniform."

"What? Oh! Sure thing." However, James was still covering his eyes and turned in the opposite direction. "Why are you…" Lily asked with curiosity as she noticed James' position. "Why aren't you…Oh…OHHH!" Lily felt as if the dust in her brain had just been blown away as she realized her hospital gown was tied in the back by a mere string…and that string was the **only** thing on that side of her open-backed hospital gown. She had been giving James a view of the full moon in the early morning!

"Keep your head turned Mister! Until I tell you otherwise," Lily snapped in a strict tone, trying to keep hold of her bossy air before she melted into the floor as she wished. James eagerly obeyed, blushing cherry red at having just seen his friend…a _girl_'s buttocks! "Okay, you may turn around. I am decent." Lily stated firmly once her uniform was on.

James turned around but only glared at the floor.

"Err…James?" Lily asked sweetly.

"Yeah?"

Lily's silky sweet angelic tone soon turned ice old as she looked sternly at James, "If you tell ANYONE, I mean **ANYONE** about what just happened…I…I…I SWEAR you'll pay. YOU WILL PAY!" James gulped and angelic Lily was back, "Got it?" James hastily nodded his head, still staring at the linoleum floor, "Good. Now, let's go to breakfast. I could eat a horse!" Lily changed the subject, back to her normal self…if you could call Lily Evans normal.

As they silently walked to the Great Hall Lily openly inquired, "James, am I gonna have to put a memory charm on you, or will you always be this quiet around me? Okay…you saw my butt…who cares?" Lily said this as casually as she could but was blushing as red as her roots! "I surely don't." She lied, but still continued, "I don't want it to be awkward like this around you…I mean, it's kinda good this thing happened so early on…so that our friendship will grow…er…stronger…right?"

"Uh..yeah. Sure"

"Great." Lily smiled, taking James' response as a somewhat 'yes'. "Well, we're a t the Great Hall, so REMEMBER what I said before, _okay_?"

          "Okay." James firmly stated.

          "Good."

          As they walked into the Great Hall, Lily saw that the weird guy from the boat, Severus, was approaching her, along with a second one of the Slytherin goons who had long blond hair and steely gray eyes. Severus quickly slicked back his hair, probably caking his hand with sticky goop and smiled cordially at Lily, "Hello dearest Lily. I don't think we've been properly acquainted. My name is Severus Snape." The blonde boy nudged Severus in the side, "Ow—oh and this is my wonderfully handsome friend Lucius Malfoy." 

At his introduction Malfoy put on a cheeky grin and said, "Hello, beautiful."

"Good bye, grease bucket and friend." Lily disgustedly stated and pushed past the two boys, James at her heels.

          "Who were those boys?"

          "Oh. Just some Slytherin freaks, but can I say GROSS!!!! Ugh, I mean, they were such PIGS…ugh…what's wrong with people our age these days!"

          "Uh, dunno! Well…guess we'd better be getting some food." James said, eyeing the platters of sausages and eggs.

          Lily rolled her eyes. "Sure. Whatever."

          As Lily plopped down she noticed all her friends were either overindulging (the boys) or watching their friends overindulge (the girls). She soon joined the staring as she realized Sirius and Peter were having some sort of eating contest. As soon as their plates were empty, the girls hesitantly refilled them; afraid the boys might explode if they added more. Peter eventually waved off the next round of sausages, plopped his head onto his empty plate, clutched his stomach, and started moaning as he realized the hard work it took to be a gluttonous pig. On the other hand, Sirius was realizing the benefits of being one, "YES!!!! Peter has to do my homework for a WEEK!!!!!"

          "And that's a good thing Sirius?" Lily asked.

          "Oh hey! You're back! How was it being allll alone for a whole night with _Madame_ Pomfrey breathing down your neck and sniffing you as you slept?"

          "_What?_" Lily asked, shocked.

          "HAHA! Gotcha! By the way, have you seen Remus?"

          "No…I haven't seen him since yesterday. He said he had to see his sick grandmother. Maybe he wasn't lying."

          "Yeah, but do you think he's alright?" Melanie asked concerned.

          "Of course, he's been visiting his sick grandma for YEARS now…she has some kind of illness…and nobody knows when she's gonna finally keel over."

          "SIRIUS!" Lily cried, "How can you be so insensitive? Remus is probably really upset right now at the fact that his poor grandmother could pass away any second!"

          However, at that moment Remus was being taken back to the hospital wing where he would be kept in isolation during the day as Madam Pomfrey dressed his self-inflicted wounds and made sure he wasn't seen. An hour before the moon was to rise, Remus would be taken back to the musty mansion where he would spend another anguish-filled sleepless night.

          As Remus was trying to get some sleep, his seven friends set off to their first class of the day, potions, with Professor Assisran (A/N-Narsissa spelled backwards, clever huh?), an older witch (also known as head of Slytherin) with short frizzled gray hair that stuck out at odd angles and a furrowed unibrow. They unluckily had to share the next two periods with the Slytherin.

          As they entered the dungeon classroom they found that each table could seat two students. Six of the friends paired up at tables near the back, leaving an odd one out. That day it happened to be Lily and none other than Lucius Malfoy decided to 'grace her with his presence.'

          'NO! Not him…what if he tries to…be all SLIMY again?' Lily thought, with horror. But before he had a chance to say a word, Professor Assisran stormed into the room.

"Good morning class." Assisran started in a gruff, masculine tone. "Well, no. It's not good. However, I still have to teach you…"

Sirius braved a, "No you don't." 

"Five points from Gryffindor for unauthorized speaking." She scowled.

Clearing her throat she started again, "As I was saying, I still have to teach you and because Potions is such a precise subject, you must pay close attention to all that I say to you. Unless! YOU would like to end up in the hospital wing with needles poking out of your back." Letting out a mad cackle, she turned and began once again, "Now class, I would like you to pay very close attention to what I am about to tell you on which roots and beetles to never mix. TAKE NOTES, if you would not like to fail this course." She finished in a hoarse whisper.

Ruffles of parchment and dipping of quills was heard throughout the room as the class prepared for the boring lesson that was ahead of them. Professor Assisran started her lecture and her students began vigorously scribbling notes, afraid of what would happen if they didn't. As Assisran's lecture came to an end, Lily found that Lucius' hand was on her leg. She thought 'Eww…what's wrong with these people!' as she abruptly grabbed it, trying to tear it off without attracting attention when he whispered in her ear, "I hear you have a nice ass Evans…"

Lily. Saw. Red. "_What_ did you say?"

"You heard me," Malfoy smirked.

"Class dismissed. Until Thursday." The scratchy voice of Assisran called.

Lily stormed out of the classroom, heading towards Defense Against the Dark Arts (A/N-from now on DADA). She entered the classroom, vaguely waving to Professor Reklace-a young wizard who had recently been permitted to teach and had not yet learned to hate students- and took a seat near the front of the room where she knew she could avoid James…the _filthy_ rat. She stared at her desk, ignoring the concerned questions her friends asked as they entered the classroom. The Marauders, as she expected, took seats near the back and she happily avoided them during the whole lesson on Cornish pixies.

The class finished two hours later, and though hungry for lunch; Lily knew she could only find peace in one place, Helga's room.

"Lily, you coming?" Arabella asked, worry on her face, as she saw Lily walking off in the opposite direction.

"No…I just…no…" Lily mumbled, afraid she would cry if she said much more. 

"What's wrong?"

"I'll. I'll tell you later. Just…let me be alone for a while. I'll see you next class."

Lily then took off running towards the transfiguration classroom. As she arrived, she scanned the hallway and turned to the portrait she had exited just the day before. "Sn—sn—snoggle snout" Lily choked out.

"Oh, I see _Helga's_ felt it her duty to invite a guest, hm? Never consulting her dearest sister. Oh, very well." The portrait then swung open, allowing Lily entry. Lily scrambled into the room, _her_ room, and collapsed on the bed. She punched its creamy white cushions until her anger turned to humiliation, which turned to sorrow. Soon she was crying her eyes out, wondering why James would be so cruel. Her only comfort was in knowing she could seek revenge…(A/N-and here comes the hate…)

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DanniBannani~ Okie dokies! There goes chapter seven. Again, sorry that it's a little shorter than usual. My goals are to have at least 2000 per chapter, and I've fulfilled that so far. I have decided to make it go…LOVE/HATE after this…I just had to have a good enough reason for the hate to start…hope it was! Tell me if you liked the way I did it, or if they're acting too mature or if the story sucks and I should just quit writing…I don't really care! I hope you like it, but if you hate it, FLAME IT…I won't die of depression. Just as long as the number of reviews rises to make me look special (I am so selfish, huh?) well…that's all for now. Please review! :) *smooches*


	8. Veg Fests and Thoughts of Revenge

Disclaimer~ As mentioned before I own nothing that you recognize, but the things you don't are mine!

~DanniBannani~ Hello again! I wanna say thanks to all of you who have so kindly read (and reviewed) my story! I hope you like the way it's going right now…hope it doesn't bore you too much (my friend informed me of how my first chapters were kinda boring…and that another one was kinda slow…). Well, that's all for now folks…until the end of the chapter…

And it goes on…

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          As Lily lay on the comfy green bed, warm from her body heat, her fingers wrapped themselves around one of the fluffy pillows. When her sorrow amplified her knuckles paled as her grip tightened. The flushed tint returned to them once she had gotten a hold of her emotions; but then her sorrow once again returned and her knuckles whitened once more.

          This tedious cycle continued until Lily's internal clock told her it was time to be heading to History of Magic. She slowly slid off the bed and dragged her feet to the portrait from which she'd entered her beautiful room. She lazily pushed it open, luckily unseen due to the fact that most students and teachers were just leaving lunch, and (at a snail's pace) she walked to her next class, head hung low. 

          She reached the door and unhurriedly walked into the classroom, not even noticing the fact that a ghost was sitting at the professor's desk. Plopping down into the nearest seat, Lily decided she didn't feel like looking depressed in front of _James_ and put on a bold and brave expression. A few minutes later she was joined by her six friends and…_him_. All of them, even the boys, took seats around her, disturbed at how she'd suddenly run off without an explanation. Lily received a tap on the shoulder and turned to find James looking at her worriedly. Her pale cheeks reddened with anger and her eyes narrowed until they were simply slants on a pretty face. She then gave James the cold shoulder as he stared at her bemusedly, dazed at her reaction.

          "What was that about Lil?" asked Arabella. "And have you been crying?" she added, seeing past the bold face and noting Lily's blood-shot eyes.

          "I'll…I'll explain later okay?" Lily replied, forcing herself not to choke.

          "Okay. After class."

          "Sure."

          Meanwhile, Sirius turned to James, "Hey. What was that all about? I mean, was it just me or did the wicked witch of the west just step out of Pippie Longstockings over there?"

          "What are you goin on about?" Remus asked.

          "Oh, just some Muggle stories…my mom used to read them to me, before—," Sirius stated sadly, remembering his mother before she was sent to St. Mungo's. He quickly changed the topic, "Anyways. Why was Lily practically bisecting you with her laser glare?"

          "I dunno. It was really weird. It's not like I told anyone about what happened this morning."

          "What happened?" asked Peter, joining in on the conversation.

          "N-nothing at all! Did I say something about this morning? No, you must have been shocked by the…the…ghost who's sitting in the professor's desk?" James had just noticed Professor Binns, the only Hogwarts teacher who was a ghost.

          "Oh, that's just bin head," Sirius explained. "The dense-brained fool left his body behind one day and just came to class and kept on teaching, not even noticing he was dead!"

          "Oh…_weird,_" James said robotically, still lost in thought about why Lily had seemed so pissed. But his thoughts were interrupted as Professor Binns jumped-or should I say floated- right into the lesson and started to lecture them about the witch rebellion of 1425. On impulse, James expertly dozed off with his eyes open, pretending to be listening to what Binns was drawling on about, but really taking an hour and a half nap.

          As soon as the boring class period was over, Lily jumped out of her seat, ready to run out of the classroom before Arabella had a chance to stop her, but unluckily for her Arabella was much too quick. Just as Lily thought she'd made it to freedom, Arabella grabbed her robes and whisked her away into an empty classroom.

          "Alright. Spill," she demanded.

          "Well…you see…um…this topic's not exactly interesting… Bella, do I have to?"

          "Yes."

          "Okaaaaaay." Lily responded, eyes widening in surrender. "Well…earlier today I got out of…do I really have to?" Lily pleaded.

          "What do you think?"

          "No?"

          "Think again."

          "Damn." Lily audibly whispered.

          "Hey watch the language!"

          "Yes ma'am." Lily said mockingly, trying desperately to avoid re-approaching the subject, but again Arabella was too quick for her.

          "OK! Enough. Tell me…or I'll make you."

          "FINE!" Lily screamed, giving up. "Well…this morning…when _James_ came to get me because you sent him up--,"

          "We didn't send him up…"

          "Oh really, how strange. Why do you think he came up? Hmm.."

          "I don—_LILY_…continue."

          'So close…but so far away,' thought Lily. "Where was I…oh yeah. So, when _James_ came up to get me I was sleeping and I woke up to see none other than _him_."

          "So…?" Arabella pointed out, wondering why Lily kept saying James' name like it was the scum of all scum.

          "Let me finish. You're the one who's making me tell in the first place."

          "Okay. GO"

          "Well, I get up and then I was about to walk out the door when James reminds me I'm still in my hospital gown. So I turn around to change again when I noticed he was turned the opposite way and like…looking at the ground and covering his eyes. So after some prompting I realized my as—,"

          "LILY!"

          "Sorry. **Bum** was showing. So I told him I'd kill him if he told anyone and he promised not to. But then…in potions…since Remus was gone, I didn't have a partner since everyone else had paired up…and that blonde guy who hangs around the grease bucket from the boat sits next to me. And I ignored him the whole lesson until he put his hand on my leg."

          "NO!"

          "YES!!! Isn't that totally disgusting?"

          "YEAH! I mean, we're only eleven…I mean…you do that when you're OLD, y'know? Like sixteen! But…what's this have to do with James?"

          Lily's appalled expression at Malfoy's actions suddenly darkened at the mention of James, showing more revulsion. "Well. I was trying to take his filthy talons off my leg…when he…whispered something in my ear."

          "What was it?" Arabella eagerly asked, hanging on to Lily's every word as if she were watching a soap opera (A/N- I know they wouldn't have soaps…but it's just a simile!) 

          "He whispered…excuse my language Bella," Lily paused, wondering if she really wanted to tell this to her friend or not. Finally deciding she'd need a partner in crime for her revenge on James, she took a deep breath, "I-I hear you h-have a nice ass Evans…"

          "Oh my gosh! You _don't _believe James actually told, do you?"

          "Well, how else could the git have known? Nobody else was there. I'm 100% positive!"

          "But…**why**?" asked Arabella getting a little upset at what James had done.

          "I-I-I _don't_ know!" Lily cried, breaking down once again. Arabella was quick to wrap Lily up in a warm hug and held her as she shook in silent tears. As her trembling friend calmed down Arabella pulled away from Lily to look her in the face.

          "Lils, you know what you need?"

          "Wh-what?"

          "A VEG FEST!!!" (a/n-if you don't know, veg fests are when you get a bunch of food and eat until you can't move, like a vegetable…hints the name, and while you eat you talk about ALL of your problems until you feel much better!)

          "But how're we gonna do that?"

          "Oh, just a little something I call… 'the benefits of having a former prankster for an older brother.'"

          "What?"

          "C'mon, I'll show you."

          "O-ok." Lily consented in a watery tone. "As long as we can veg…" she said, forcing a weak smile.

          "Alright then. Allons y (a/n-this means 'let's go' in French)!"

          Arabella grabbed Lily's hand and dragged her towards the Great Hall. When they were right by the entry Lily stopped, turned to Arabella and said, "No, not in there."

          "We're not going _there_! Follow me." She then dragged Lily once again. They entered a door right by the main staircase in the entrance hall and down a small hallway until they reached a picture of a bowl of fruit. Arabella stopped abruptly and Lily stepped on her heels.

          "**OW!**" 

          "Oops! Sorry…" Lily sheepishly apologized.

          But Arabella was too busy scanning the portrait, only stopping to tickle a pear.

          "What are you—oooooooooh!" Lily sighed, awed at the huge kitchens that stood before her.

~~~***~~~

          "And so then he says, 'No, Bella. Eleven year olds just aren't my type!' That was so _humiliating…_my best friend's brother! I was speechless…and soooooo embarrassed." Arabella informed Lily of her stupidity as she licked the remnants of the chocolate mousse that once covered her spoon.

          "But, why did you ask him in the first place?" Lily asked, stuffing her face with chocolate ice cream drenched in chocolate syrup (a/n- I personally hate chocolate…but all my friends say it's the best comfort food…so, why not?)

          "Uh, Lils. Haven't you noticed yet? Your friend here is just a weensy bit BOY CRAZY! C'mon…didn't my thoughts of…" Arabella's voice got into a high-pitched tone, "the **boys** show you that?" Arabella sighed, and then collapsed in a fit of giggles. She quickly turned to the nearest house elf and politely asked, "Can my friend and I have some apple juice please?" 

          "W-why yes miss! Teeny is very very happy to help yous misses. I is back with the juice very soon miss!" Teeny then scampered off in the opposite direction of the huge kitchen. She quickly walked to the four long tables in the center of the room, filling them with food for the students in the great hall above. After she and her fellow house elves had levitated the food through the ceiling to the ravenous crowd above, Teeny hurriedly retrieved a pitcher of apple juice and two glasses, setting it before the girls. "Here you is misses!" Teeny cried, beaming.

          "Thank you." Lily and Arabella kindly chorused.

          Teeny let out a shocked 'eeeek!' "Why, y-you is so very very kind to Teeny. I is just doin' my job, yes I is. I is needing no thanks." She then scampered off in the other direction, shaking her head in denial muttering, "No, Teeny is **not** deserving thanks. No. Teeny just does her job."

          Lily shook her head as she watched Teeny scurry off in the other direction, but soon widened her eyes as she watched Arabella chug down one…two…three glasses of apple juice-within a minute! "Geez. I have to say, chocolate mousse always makes me extremely thirsty!"

          "I see…" Lily murmured in an honest tone.

          "And you know what else, Lils?"

          "Do I wanna know?"

          "OF COURSE SILLY!" Arabella stated in a scarily hyper tone.

          "Ok…"

          "I looooooove apple juice! It's just so appley!" Arabella cooed.

          "Oh…I see. Bella, are you feeling okay?"

          "Yessss! But…apple juice is sooo good! And so is Sirius! I loooove Sirius. But, we're too young to go out, don't you think? You know, after the whole incident with my friend's big brother I'm ascared of boys!"

          "Really now? Bella…you need to caaaaaalm down."

          "Okay. I can be calm. Watch." Arabella sat for about five seconds, trying to force herself into a serious face. Yet her mouth kept quivering and her lips were gradually turning upwards until she let out a huge cackle that sounded enormously like Sirius's laugh.

"Bella…I've gotta calm you down…" Lily poured herself a glass of apple juice before she took the almost empty pitcher and poured its contents over Arabella's head.

          A shriek echoed through the kitchens. Arabella slowly craned her neck to face Lily, "Lily…Evans…"

          "Hey! You should be thanking me!" Lily explained, a hint of nervousness in her tone.

          "No, I should be doing this!" As if in slow motion, Lily's green eyes widened considerably as a golden stream of liquid came shooting out of her once-full glass. Her mouth opened to scream, but was instantly filled with the apple juice that once sat in her glass.

          "This means WAR!" Lily choked as she turned her bowl of chocolate ice cream onto Arabella's golden locks; she grinned as brown cream cascaded down Arabella's curls and dripped onto the floor. However, Lily didn't notice her friend grab her chocolate mousse and found her face smeared with the sticky brown goop!

          The girls raided the kitchen the next fifteen minutes, grabbing the first mess-making ingredients they saw, oblivious to the forlorn looks on the house elves' faces. When they had finally finished destroying the room, they collapsed on the floor in fits of laughter. "Ss-see Lily!" Arabella forced out, clutching her side, "You feel better don't you?"

          "Yeah…I guess so. But one thing's still troubling me?"

          "What is it?" Arabella's laughter abruptly halted.

          "How do I get revenge on stupid _Potter_" Lily spat out James' surname venomously.

          "Well…that shouldn't be too difficult. What other Muggle tricks have you got up your sleeves? I'm positive he won't know what's hit 'em!"

          "BRILLIANT! You are a genius, I tell ya!"

          "I know," Bella said, bowing.

          "Yes, a genius who is frighteningly like Sirius at times."

          "WHAT?!"

          "Oh, nothing. Hm…was somebody calling my name?" As Arabella stopped to listen, Lily jumped up, grabbed some remaining flour off the floor, threw it at Arabella and scurried towards the exit. "Yup, it was my conscious telling me to run!" Lily cried as she sprung out the door, Arabella close on her heels.

~~~***~~~

          Reaching the portrait of the Fat Lady, Lily hastily whispered, "whippie skippo" and climbed into the portrait hole. She sprinted into the mostly deserted common room and searched for shelter. She soon found it behind Sirius, who was dazedly standing by the couch. She quickly jumped behind him, grabbing onto his shoulders as if he were a shield. Sirius took in her flour-caked body, chocolate-smeared face, and giggling state to mean she had done something…and was about to get revenged (a/n- is that a word?). 

          "Hey! I'm not gonna take the beating!" Sirius cried, but was too late as Arabella stormed into the room, a look of false anger on her face.

          Sirius quickly stepped aside and said, "Here, you can have her!"

          "Or maybe…we can have…YOU!" Arabella cried and the girls both attacked Sirius who screamed in protest as he tried to escape the messy girls. "Get off me! Aaah! You're messing up my hair! Stop it…not the hair…DO NOT TOUCH THE HAIR!"

          From the opposite side of the common room someone loudly cleared their throat. The three untidy first years looked up and saw James wagging his finger at them disapprovingly. "Mr. Black…Miss Figg…Miss Evans…I am _appalled_ at your behavior!" James cried, putting on a fake McGonagall tone. He got a genial chuckle from Sirius at his great impression, but the girls just gave him icy glares and stomped up the stairs to their bedroom.

          "What did I do this time?" James asked, bewildered.

          "Dunno mate, but I'd be worried if I were you. You've got Evans **and** Figg wantin your blood…SCARY" Sirius said, shivering for effect. 

          "I know…" James shivered also, but unlike Sirius, he wasn't faking.

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~DanniBannani~ Okay…that was chapter eight!! Again…thanks to all who've reviewed! I've gotten over thirty...and it hasn't even been a month yet! Wow! You guys are amazing. Well, I hope you liked this chapter too! It took me a little while to get it down since I had to figure out how to make the perfect hyper Arabella…I still don't know how that went… Anyways, please review and tell me! It makes my day! And a happy writer means, a happy story…sometimes…okay…me shut up now. Well, thanks again!!


	9. The Pleasures of Revenge

Disclaimer-As said before, I own nothing that you recognize. But, anything you see in this fic that is new to you is mine.

~DanniBannani~ Hello again my dear readers! Thanks for all the reviews!!! I am so very sorry I haven't posted sooner than this. But, I'm in the last few weeks of school right now so it's…EXAM TIME. Fun. Fun. Fun. But, I have been writing another fic also…with my friend Teeny…and we hope to post it as PBnJ…eventually whenever the site allows us to make a new account. Well…I guess I need to stop advertising and start giving you the story so…

On with it…

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***James was soaring on his Nimbus 1000, loving the feel of the cool wind as it untidied his already untidy hair. It tickled his nose, almost like a feather…***

          "Shh!" Lily whispered, holding her finger over her mouth, watching Arabella snickering as she herself tried to suppress a giggle. Arabella had just filled the sleeping James' palm with mountains of foamy white shaving cream and Lily had the wonderful task of tickling his nose with a soft feather. As the tip of the frail feather tap-danced across his nose, James moved his cream-filled hand and smeared the white substance all over his face.

          "Much better," James muttered, not realizing the cool wind in his dream was actually shaving cream (a/n- That rhymed!).

          ***James continued soaring through the clouds, weaving in and out of the sun's rays that warmed his fingers…***

          "Lily! What on earth are you doing?"

          "Watch." Lily demanded after she dipped James' cream free hand into a bowl of warm water (a/n-This is a common prank. I'm not doing this 'cause I saw it in another fic).

          ***'Aaaah! Such a lovely day!' James thought in his dream, 'But it's a little chilly. Maybe these nice warm jets of water will help me out.' As he flew through the jet streams, the water warmed him…***

          "Oh my gosh! I gotta get out! I gotta get out!" Arabella cried, turning red from suppressing her laughter. She bounded out of the room, hand clamped over her mouth, fearing she'd burst out laughing and wake the boys.

          'Amateur' Lily thought as she emptied her toothpaste into the foamy-faced James' hair. 'And this should be dry by morning!' She thought, noting the toothpaste. She then looked at James' now wet boxers and bed sheets, 'But these won't' Lily smiled wickedly and pranced out of the first year boys' dorm.

~~~***~~~

          "JAMSIE HAD AN ACCIDENT!" were the first words out of an ecstatic Sirius Black's mouth the next morning, "I THOUGHT YOU STOPPED WETTING THE BED YEEEARS AGO!" were the next. Sirius' yelling could be heard throughout the entire dorm, and a certain redhead gratefully welcomed this wake-up call.

          In the boys' dorm James was awakening to Sirius' gleeful cries. It took him a while to process Sirius' words, but when he did he looked down and saw the accusation to be true.

          "AND LOOK AT HIS NEW MAKEOVER!" James quickly put his hands to his face, and then his hair.

          "Wha-Who-Why?" James sputtered the words almost simultaneously as he looked at his reflection in the mirror, "What is this?" was James' first complete sentence.

          "Looks like toothpaste to me." Peter smiled, glad the prank wasn't on him this time.

          "But who?"

          "Haha, Jamsie boy! I **told** you Evans and Figg would seek revenge.

          "No, they're not smart enough to—," James paused, then hastily muttered, "to make me wet my pants."

          "You're right Jamsie. You did that yourself!"

          "WHAT? No."

          "Right…" Sirius and Peter said, clearly unconvinced.

          "URGH!" James yelled and started throwing a fit over his "stupid friends."

          While James was preoccupied with throwing pillows and squawking like a mad chicken, Sirius was snapping photos for future sales and blackmail. James eventually noticed his friend's, "Now turn for the camera…EXCELLENT"'s and stopped at once.

          "SIRIUS LEE BLACK!"

          The next five minutes were filled with many hexes (one of which actually worked) and hex-dodging in the case of Sirius. The one hex that worked was the perfect hex for Sirius Black. It had changed his long hair into a buzz cut! Sirius stressfully ran his hand through his invisible hair and realized his hair had disappeared.

          "JAMES HENRY POTTER! CHANGE IT BACK THIS INSTANT—OR I'LL DEFINITELY SELL THESE PICTURES TO THE SLYTHERIN!"

          James quickly (but unwillingly) muttered the counter curse and Sirius' hair was no longer extremely short.

          Clearing his throat Peter awkwardly inquired, "Uh. Is…anybody hungry?"

~~~***~~~

          After a few more scuffles, the boys finally made it to the Great Hall where breakfast awaited. James entered and found himself the victim of amused stares and obvious giggles. He sat in a seat across from Lily, who muttered, "Glad to see you're dry, oh and was the toothpaste too hard to remove?"

          "What?"

          Lily arched her eyebrow and smirked, "Nothing" She airily replied.

          "You!"

          "Me."

          "Why?"

          "I'd like to ask YOU the same!"

          "About what?"

          "YOU KNOW!"

          "Er. No."

          "Yes. You do."

          "No. I don't."

          "You told him."

          "Told who?"

          "YOU KNOW!"

          "BLOODY HELL LILY! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY I KNOW NOTHING?"

          "AS MANY AS YOU LIKE YOU STUPID DENYING **BED WETTING** GIT!"

          More giggles filled the Great Hall.

          "You." James spat, disgusted.

          "You." Lily mimicked, equally loathing.

          The two simultaneously stood up from their facing seats and marched out of the Great Hall, fuming.

          "Well…that was interesting." Sirius stated nonchalantly, "Anyone want some toast?

~~~***~~~

          The group got through the rest of the day rather awkwardly. Lily and James kept shooting each other death glares as their friends tried to ignore them and continue on as if nothing was wrong. The morning classes (Transfiguration and Charms) went smoothly, but in Herbology with the head of Hufflepuff House, Professor Sprout- a very young witch with short golden brown hair and a pudgy nose- Lily pushed James, who (due to this action) dropped all of his puffapod seeds and several flowers had instantly exploded from their insides. Professor Sprout, who hadn't seen the push, scolded James for ten minutes on the careless behavior that could have easily been prevented and the number of puffapods that could have been spared. All the while Lily poked her head around Professor Sprout's back and began making faces at James.

          That night at dinner Lily poured three pitchers of pumpkin juice on James' head while James poured five onto Lily.  James then gave Lily a buzz cut like the one Sirius had had earlier that day. Lily screamed and demanded James to turn it back, but James blatantly refused. So, as a form of revenge, Lily turned James' hair bright pink and smeared her mashed potatoes all over his face. She then yelled out, "WELL AT LEAST I DON'T WET THE BED!" 

James had no response to that so he merely changed what was left of Lily's hair blue. Because changing hair color and length were some of the only hexes James knew, he continued to abuse his "skills" and had changed Lily's short hair every color of the rainbow by the time dinner was finished. Lily, however, did not seek revenge on James at dinner but waited for Astronomy to come at midnight, where she could humiliate James and definitely not be seen.

After dinner, Lily ignored Megan and Robyn's pleads for explanations on why she was mad at James and rushed to the library where she could research on simple hexes she could perform on James. During her time of investigation, Lily figured out how she could change her hair back to its normal length and color. She also learned a handy little hex that would make James squeal!

~~~***~~~

          "Good evening class," a slender-faced woman with short blonde hair and mysteriously blue eyes started in a noticeable French accent, "My name is Professeur Etoile (a/n-star in French…w/out the accent aigu on the first e). I will be teaching you to locate and name many of zee important stars. Now. Zere are several stars in zee solar system zat I want you to find tonight. We will start wis zee Nors star…"

          Lily zoned out of concentration and zoned in on her victim, AKA- James Potter. As he pulled out his star chart and began mapping the North Star Lily muttered under her breath, "Rictusempra," and James immediately fell on his side laughing uncontrollably. Professeur Etoile turned around and angrily said, "Mr. Potter. It iz LATE and I am sure zat nobody wants to be here later zan zey need to be. If you continue to laugh like zat I am positif zat we will be forced to stay anozer half hour. Zat would not make you very popular would it? Non." Lily quickly ended James' torment so as to quiet Professeur Etoile for a moment, "Ok. Please continue wiz you mapping." Lily, who had not been paying attention, quickly raised her hand and asked for help, "Oui Miss. Eva—Ah mon dieu! Vos cheveux! (translation-Oh my God! Your hair!)."

          "What?"

          "Your hair! It is, short, very very short!"

          "Oh." Lily quickly changed her hair back to its normal length as Professeur Etoile quickly said, "AH! Silly me. I forgot about zat!"

          Lily gave her Professor a strange look before turning to James and muttering once again, "Rictusempra". James seemed to struggle this time, trying to keep in his laughter, but to no avail.  He soon was in fits of laughter on the floor, rolling and clenching his sides.

          "ZAT IS IT MR. POTTER! EXTRA HALF AN HOUR FOR EVERYONE!"

          The moans and groans of the drowsy students filled the astronomy tower. 

          "Gosh James! Why do you have to be so…stupid!"

          But James was still laughing on the floor as if there were no tomorrow.

          "MISTER POTTER! I HAF HAD IT! DETENTION AND TEN POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR!"

          Lily once again ended James' torture, but only to the benefit of her House. She didn't want any more points taken away for "James'" actions. She obediently sat and charted her stars for the next forty-five minutes like the perfect student should. When the class was finally finished at 1:30am, all the students (except for James) trudged out of the tower, fighting to keep their eyes open. James was forced to stay behind with Professeur Etoile who decided it would be a wonderful detention for him to scrub the Astronomy tower spotless that night until 2:30. 

          When he finally left the tower, James trudged back to his bed where he collapsed in his school uniform, not even bothering to change. His last thoughts before drifting off to sleep were of why a certain fiery redhead had to be so annoying, and what he would do to seek revenge. And this night, as he slept he dreamt of vengeance and the rewarding feeling of outdoing another.

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Okay guys…I am soooo very sorry again for not updating sooner! And I'm also sorry for the length of this chapter! It was only 1700 words! Oh no! I have failed to follow my minimum of 2000 words rule! Oh, well. Life goes on. Annnnnd, I hope you really liked it (tell me and review…I wanna know if I made any of you laugh!!!) Thanks for reading, at least! TTFN!

~DanniBannani~


	10. Revenge is our Friend

Disclaimer~I don't own anything here that you recognize, but all the other stuff is mine!

DanniBannani~Thanks to all who've reviewed my story! I really really really appreciate all that you've done and how you've helped me all the way to the TENTH CHAPTER!

***To all Americans: HAPPY FOURTH!!!! HAVE FUN EATING FOOD, HAVING BARBECUES, AND WATCHING FIREWORKS!!!!!!***

Now that that's through…

On with the story…

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James woke up, grumpily fuming at the redhead who was the cause of his exhaustion. However his anger was dampened when he noticed the presence of an extra figure in the room.

          "Remus!" James cried happily, then turned to a more serious note, "How's your mom doing?"

          "Wha-oh! Er..she's doing—" Remus started to reply as Sirius woke up and noticed his friend.

          "Remus! How are you buddy? Man! You look like you've been through a lot." Sirius noted looking at the dark bags under Remus' eyes and his pale and sickly appearance. Sirius' gleeful cries, like James', turned to a more somber note, "Is it because of your mom?"

          "Yeah," Remus lied. "Speaking of moms, how's yours Sirius?" asked Remus, attempting to change the subject.

          "Well…she's still in Mungo's…bitter, as usual. But, I think the hospital made her worse. My dad wrote me telling how ashamed she was to have a Gryffindor in the family." Sirius tried to state this nonchalantly but his voice hinted hurt, " I'm sure I would've gotten a howler if she'd been able to talk. Healers say her voice should be back any moment now." 

          "Oh…" Remus muttered, mentally scolding himself for bringing up such a sensitive topic. "So, what've I missed?"

          "Nothing too exciting. James and Lily hate each other's guts. Lily got James a detention, made him wet the bed, and announced it publicly. Nothing too out of the ordinary."

          "How did she _make_ him wet the bed?"

          "No clue…not even sure if it wasn't just him wetting the bed on his own."

          "WHAT?" James cried, "I DID _NOT_ DO THAT ON MY OWN! IT'S NOT POSSIBLE!"

          "Ok, whatever." Sirius stated, infuriating James even more.

          "ARGH!" yelled James throwing his pillows and squawking.

          "OH! And I forgot to mention James had a fit. He pretty much adopted all of the characteristics of a mad chicken…Look now! He's doing it again!"

~~~***~~~

          Everything went smoothly the following days besides the occasional prank of Lily and James, accompanied by their faithful friends. In fact, the whole of school was beginning to believe the two had finally settled down.  James and Lily behaved pleasantly in their classes, impressing the teachers with their intelligence and another war began to start-one of academic excellence. James knew Lily's goal was to be top in everything. The only way he could truly anger her was by outdoing her in class. The sole subject he was really succeeding in was Transfiguration, but not by far.

James was beginning to get aggravated at the prospect of only being better than Lily in one course until a notice appeared in the common room announcing that the next week would be dedicated to flying lessons (first years) and quidditch tryouts (second years and above). All afternoon classes would be cancelled and replaced by the new subject for that week only…

"ATTENTION! PAY ATTENTION! ATTENTION IS **VERY** IMPORTANT IN THE SPORT OF FLYING!" cried Madam Hooch, a woman with graying hair and hawk-like yellow eyes. "Now, go on. Grab a broom everyone. They don't bite."

The Hogwarts first years all rushed to grab their broomsticks and anxiously waited for the next set of directions.

"Place your right hand directly over your broom and when I tell you say 'UP', like so" Madam Hooch demonstrated and her broom shot into her hand, "Now."

There was a chorus of 'UP's. The brooms of James, Sirius, and Remus immediately shot to their hands, along with those of Lucius Malfoy and Evan Rosier, a burly young boy with a squashed in face. The other first years did not receive such obedience from their brooms. Eventually all the students had their brooms in their hands, and to James' delight, Lily was the last to achieve this.

Madam Hooch next informed the first years how to mount their brooms without slipping off and directed, "When I say so, kick off the ground hard, hover a few feet above the ground for a few moments, and then touch back lightly by slightly leaning forward. Everyone understand?"

"Yes Madam Hooch," murmured the class.

"Ok, Kick off! Not so hard Mr. Pettigrew! Okay, good. Keep control class…good. Now lean forward class. And touch back lightly, OOOH! Not so _hard_ Miss Evans. No!" But it was too late, Lily's broom shot forward, heading straight for the ground. With a loud crunch, her broom splintered, along with a few bones in her leg.

"Lily!" cried Arabella, rushing towards her friend. However she was tripped by a laughing James. Arabella slowly turned around to look James in the face. She stood up and inched closer to him, nose inches from his and glared angrily into his mocking eyes. (a/n-nothing romantic, okay guys, NOTHING).

"Looks like Evans is an expert flyer, eh Figg?" James asked, then burst out laughing. Arabella in no way found this act funny and smacked James with all the strength she had. Unfortunately Madam Hooch saw the whole act and barked, "Miss Figg. I never would expect to see such strength from a girl like you; you'd make a fine beater. Nevertheless, violence is not permitted in any Hogwarts class and I am obliged to give you a detention." With that Madam Hooch turned to Remus, "Lupin. Watch over the class while I take Miss Evans to the hospital wing. She's definitely going to need some mending for those bones of hers."

"Yes ma'am."

As soon as Madam Hooch was out of earshot Arabella once again turned to James and venomously spat, "This is not over, _Potter_."

She marched off as James said, "Ooooh, I'm soooo scared!" in mock fear.

'He should be,' she thought as she gave James the finger.

~~~***~~~

          Lily returned to the common room around 11 o'clock that evening. She'd once again suffered from the hospital food and just felt like having a nice rest in her bed. She marched up the stairs and fell on the bed, still fully dressed. A few minutes after, Arabella returned from her detention and did the same.

          Both girls awoke the next day exhausted, but they were soon brought down to earth at the breakfast table when a beautiful snowy owl flew into the Great Hall and dropped a 'lovely red envelope' as Lily called it, into Arabella's oatmeal.

          "Oh, no." Arabella moaned.

          "What is it Bella?" asked Robyn.

          "Yeah, what's that?" Lily asked.

          "A howler." Arabella and Melanie answered simultaneously.

          "Better open it now," advised Peter, who was the only Marauder on speaking terms with the girls, "James sent me one of those as a prank…I ignored it, and it exploded in my face and screamed ten times louder than the second one he sent me, which I opened in time."

          "O-ok." With trembling fingers, Arabella opened up the red envelope.

          A woman's voice yelled, "CYNTHIA ARABELLA FIGG! HOW _DARE_ YOU CAUSE SUCH VIOLENCE IN YOUR **SECOND WEEK OF SCHOOL!** IT IS A DISGRACE FOR THE FAMILY TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH SUCH A SHAMEFUL EVENT UNDER THEIR NAME! WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU THINK YOU COULD GO AROUND SMACKING ANY PERSON YOU PLEASE? I THOUGHT I'D TAUGHT YOU BETTER! MAY **_SHAME_** BE UPON YOU!" With that the letter ripped itself up into pieces and puffed up into flames, sizzling as it landed in Arabella's cereal.

          "Well…it could've been worse…" Melanie said, on a somewhat happier note.

          "Sure," Arabella doubtfully stated.

          "Hey Bella. I didn't know your name was Cynthia!" Lily cried, successfully getting Arabella's mind off the howler.

          "Oh? I never told you? Oh, must have slipped my mind."

          "If your name's Cynthia, then why do we call you Arabella?" Robyn asked.

          "Because if you call me Cynthia I'll kill you. It's such a boring name. I prefer my mom's name, Arabella. It sounds much more exciting. Don't you agree?" (a/n-that was my meager attempt to make old Miss Figg in the HP series the correct age by making her a mother instead of a schoolmate of James and Lily …understand…sorta??)

          "Oh yes! Completely!" agreed Melanie, somewhat shocked at her friend's threat.

          "Now that that's cleared up, what am I gonna do with that James Potter? He's the cause of all this."

          Lily smiled and turned to her friend, "So I see we're thinking along the same lines?"

          "As usual!" Arabella returned the smile.

          "But this one has got to be good," said Lily

          "It'll have to be great!" chimed in Arabella.

          "It'll have to be _brutal_!" added Melanie.

          "It's gonna be very…_very_…excellent!" finished Robyn.

          The four girls then did an elaborate handshake that ended in, "Revenge is our friend!"

~~~***~~~

          That revenge did not come until the night of the Halloween feast! The girls had been making preparations for weeks on end and were eagerly waiting for the 'meal of peril' as they called it, MIP for short. 

          "So girls, think he'll survive the MIP?" asked Lily the night of the feast.

          "Hellllllll no!" (a/n-teeny, remember those 10yr olds on ski week-helllll no, hellllll yeah!) yelled Arabella.

          "So, what time's the plan going to go into action?" Melanie asked.

          Robyn answered "Seven o'clock on the dot!"…

          As the girls headed to the feast at half past six their noses welcomed the scrumdiddlyumpcious (a/n-BFG!!!) scent of baking pumpkins. They entered the Great Hall and were glad to find that James Potter was impatiently sitting at the Gryffindor table, chatting with his cronies, and unaware of his fate. The girls marched to the seats by the Marauders to guarantee a good view of the show that was to come. At quarter to seven Dumbledore stood up and made an opening speech that consisted of two words, "tuck in." He then clapped his hands and several tasty dishes appeared on the table. The girls loaded their plates with food, but did not dare eat it.  They were too busy anxiously grinning at each other and squirming with apprehension.

          When seven o'clock finally came Lily stepped into action. "_Wingardium Leviosa_," she whispered, unnoticed by everyone except her three friends, who were watching her levitate a pitcher of pumpkin juice over James. With a simple flick of her wand, the pitcher turned over and emptied itself onto James' lap. 

He let out a shocked cry, but before he had a chance to figure out what was going on the four girls whispered in unison, "_Wingardium Leviosa_," and pointed their wands at James. Using their combined forces the girls managed to lift him high up above the eating students in the great hall.

Arabella broke her concentration from James as she yelled, "Look up there! Look at Potter!" She then resumed concentration on the levitation of James. Due to the fact that the entire school was concentrating on the floating James, none of the teachers could tell whom was the cause of his 'flying.'

However, they were sure they heard Lily Evans yell, "What's this _Potter_? Have you wet your pants—again?" The hall filled with laughter and James' face turned beet red.

"Put me down…who-whoever you are! It's not funny!"

"It isn't?" cried Arabella, "Then why are we all laughing at _you_?"

"Oh, and like Sirius said, 'I thought you stopped wetting your pants yeeeears ago!'" added Lily. James started to go down slightly, now that only two people were holding him up.

"I-I did! Somebody poured—"

"Pumpkin Juice on you?" Lily finished. "Like anyone would believe that." She then turned to the school and asked, "Do you believe it?"

"Nooooooo." They said, still laughing.

"P-put me down! Pleeease! I'll do anything!" pleaded James

"Anything?" asked Arabella.

"_Anything_."

"Admit you wet yourself. We know it's true."

"But I didn't!"

"Wrong answer…" Arabella shook her head in mock disappointment. She and Lily resumed their incantations and James rose up higher. 

"Fine! I wet myself."

"Are you sure?"

"YES! I BLOODY WET MYSELF!" he yelled causing a shocked silence. However, Lucius Malfoy quickly broke that silence with a roaring laugh and was followed by the rest of the student population. 

However they were soon shut up again by the kind, wise voice of Albus Dumbledore, "Misses Evans, Figg, Baker, and Gillette, I do believe that Mr. Potter has had quite enough for one night. If you would so kindly put him down? And then I would like you to meet me after the end of the feast where you will be informed of your punishment."

The girls carefully brought the humiliated James to the ground, who stormed out of the Great Hall once his toes had brushed the floor. Soon after, the hall erupted into a round of applause for the girls' marvelous prank. Unlike the boys, the girls took their praise modestly and merely nodded their heads appreciatively before resuming their meals. After the final plates had been cleared away, the girls stayed behind in the Great Hall where they received their well worth punishment, smiling all the way.

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~DanniBannani~ Due to the fact that it is the TENTH CHAPTER on the FOURTH OF JULY!!!! I would like to thank all of the beautiful people who have reviewed so far!!! I love you guys! You're the best! Reviewers are what keep this train a'chuggin! You guys are the gas of my car…the cone of my ice cream…the milk in my shake…the ketchup of my fries…the TOY OF MY HAPPY MEAL!!! Oh…I think I'm gonna cry…::gets a tissue and blows nose::! Ok…now that that moment is over…I have to go…sit…and do nothing (that's right, no fireworks for me!)…because people in Switzerland don't celebrate American Independence (why the hell not? Lol!) Okay…I have to go!! But THANKS A BUNCHES TO ALL OF YOU!!! **MWA** **MWA** **MWA**!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!! AND PLLLEEEEASE BRING ME TO 50 REVIEWS!!!!


	11. Truces and a Broken Nose

Disclaimer~ I don't own anything here that belongs to JK, but those new characters and the plotline belong to me!!!!

First off, I'd like to apologize majorly for being such and awful author! I am. I know it. No reason to say otherwise. I haven't updated in ages…_ages!_ I do have excuses, but those excuses aren't really acceptable. Soooo…I'd again like to apologize. KILL ME IF YOU WANT TO!!!! Ok…not really. But thanks for all the reviews! I love you guys. I'm almost at sixty. **SIXTY!!! **_((Hip Hip Hoooray! Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray!))_ ANNNND you brought me to FIFTY REVIEWS (even though that last chapter really sucked) !!! At this rate I may actually make ONE HUDNDRED…maybe. I hope. Okay, now that I've blabbed on for a while I think you deserve to read the fic…so

On with it already…

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          Once again, time seemed to slip under the feet of the Hogwarts students. The cool, refreshing autumn breeze turned into the harsh, bitter wind of winter that chapped the faces of all. The beautiful leaves of cardinal red, golden yellow, and nutty brown soon drifted to the ground, leaving the trees of the forbidden forest with a deceiving appearance of vulnerability. The last signs of summer were concealed by the gray clouds that constantly blocked out the little warmth the sun would provide in its distant location.

 Many Hogwarts students were found studying in their dorms or huddled in groups by their common room fires, trying to gather warmth in the nippy stone castle. A few sought refuge in the Hogwarts kitchens where the elves' constant hustle and the fire-fed ovens provided comforting warmth, along with the warm soups the elves shoved at them. 

It was at a time like this one Saturday that Arabella Figg and James Potter bumped into each other, both racing to the kitchens for its promising heat.

"What do you want, Potter?"

"I'd like to ask the same of you, _Cynthia_." James watched with glee as Arabella's fair skin reddened and her blue eyes rounded, "Oops! I mean _A-ra-bel-la_. My bad."

"Ugh! Potter. Why can't you just disappear? Everywhere I go, you go. You're such a conniving little rat!"

"Whoa there! What did I ever do to you?" James asked.

"It's not what you did to me, James. It's what you did to Lily." She turned on her heel and walked towards the painting of the bowl of fruit.

"And what, pray tell, did I do to Evans?"

"You're such an ass Potter!"

"What?"

"You told."

"Told who?"

"You **know**!"  
          "Oh, Merlin. Not this again!" James rolled his eyes, "Look, Figg. I really don't know what you're on about. So if you could just tell me, it would waste a lot of breath for everyone, okay?"

"Fine!" They had reached the portrait of the bowl of fruit. Arabella reached out and tickled the pear. She opened the door handle that'd appeared and entered the kitchens.

"Soooo?" James asked after Arabella hadn't said anything.

"So, what?"

"What did I do?" James practically screamed, exasperated.

"Oh." Arabella made sure to order and receive her baked potato soup from Blinky, the house elf, before even thinking about answering James' question. She was half way to her mouth with her first spoonful of the creamy soup when James yelled,

"FIGG!"

"What? Oh. You really wanna know?"

"What do you THINK?"

"Okay…" She then proceeded to taste her soup, "This soup's really good. You should get some."

"For Merlin's sake! Would you just tell me what I did to earn your hatred?"

"Oh. That's what you meant?"

"_Yes_!"

"Well, you told Malfoy about that incident in the hospital wing!"

James' jaw dropped. "I did _what?"_

"You told Malfoy, that's what!"

"No. Really Figg. I did no such thing. I swear!"

"Right… Then ho w else did he know?"

"I don't know? How am I supposed to know?"

She shrugged, "Geez, no reason to go all snappy on me!"

"No reason? You've publicly humiliated me over that?! A stupid unjustified rumor?"

"Whoa! Big words there, mister!"

"Shut up Figg."

"Sorry. " She then brought another spoonful of the creamy concoction to her mouth, closing her eyes as she savored the flavor and warmth of her favorite soup. After a few more spoonfuls Arabella turned to James and asked, "So you really didn't do it?"

"No." James answered, sullenly.

"Oh…" Arabella looked down at her soup, feeling guilty. 'Why, oh, why did I not listen to my conscience telling me he didn't do it?' she thought to herself. "Look Po—James. I'm really sorry. It's just. Lily was so upset. And her explanation was the only one that made sense. What was I supposed to believe?"

"I don't know. But I do know that you could have consulted me and figured out some more facts before jumping to conclusions. Now I'm known throughout school as The Bed Wetter. Oh, what a title!"

"Oh, about that. I'm really sorry."

"Well, sorry doesn't cut it, does it Figg?"

"James…"

James turned his head in the opposite direction. 

"Look at me!" After receiving no response she said, "Oh, stop actin' like a baby Potter!" That comment got under his skin.

"Me? ME? **ME**? _I'm the one acting like a baby? You've been holding that stupid grudge for months now. Made my life a living hell! If you had enough maturity, you'd have let it go! But nooo. Figg and Evans and their little clan had to go and disgrace the Potter name!!!" James was on his feat screaming in Arabella's face. _

Arabella was leaning back, eyes widened with shock. "J-J-James. Calm down," She pleaded in a trembling voice.

"YOU—Your'e right." James sighed in defeat as Arabella sighed in relief. The two sat in uncomfortable silence for what seemed a century before Arabella mustered up the courage to speak.

"Look. I really am sorry, James. And you're absolutely right. I _did_ act like a baby, same with Lily. I want this war to stop, but…Lily's gonna hate me, isn't she?" Arabella buried her head in her hands.

"Look Figg."

"It's Arabella."

"Ok. Arabella. I don't want to argue any more than you do. That means we have some sort of common ground. So…let's just form a truce. You don't prank me, I don't prank you. Unless…it's just for pure amusement, not revenge."

Arabella sat up at this comment, "Potter!"

"Hey! I gotta have fun somewhere!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right…James?"

"Yeah?"

"Friends?"

James was taken aback. He'd expected the truce to mean they could bear each other, but friends? Silly girls and their sentiments. 

"Sure Figg, sure."

"It's Arabella."

"Sorry. Bad habit."

~~~*~~~

Lily Evans was walking through the halls, minding her own business. She was wrapping herself in her cloak (as to trap body heat) when she had the odd sensation she was being followed. She turned around and looked in all directions, but found nothing. So as not to panic, Lily assured herself she was being foolish and marched on towards the library. 

Yet, once again Lily felt the nagging pull in the back of her mind that told her the deserted corridor she was in was not really deserted. She once again searched everywhere and found no one. 

"Lillllllllllyyyyyy," she heard a voice whisper.

Lily was positive that wasn't her imagination and began to run towards the library, hearing pounding footsteps follow her down the hall. She rounded the corner and…

"OOOF!" Lily collided with what she thought was a cushioned wall and fell to the ground. However, the wall fell with her. She opened her eyes to find none other than Lucius Malfoy on top of her.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry, Lily? You know, pretty girls shouldn't be roaming the hallways alone. This castle is home to many creatures you'd never want to face by yourself."

"Oh, stuff it Malfoy!"

Malfoy ignored her comment and stood up off the floor, offering a hand to Lily. She looked at it as if a hoard of flobberworms had sucked away all of it's flesh before standing up on her own.

"Oh, independent, are we? I like that."

'Ewww, can I say…gross?' thought Lily before marching pass Malfoy and heading towards the library.

"Can I escort you to your destination?" Lucius asked, following her.

"No."

"Oooh. Playing hard to get?"

"No. More like playing keep away from the filth…a-k-a...YOU!"

"Ooooh. How clever. I like babes with brains."

"Shut up you perv!" Lily quickened her pace, as did Malfoy.

"You can't escape me, gorgeous."

"And why not?"

"I won't let you."

"Oh, really now?"

"Never underestimate a Malfoy!"

"Don't worry. I'm not underestimating."

"I warned you!"

Lily found herself being pushed against the wall by the surprisingly strong eleven year old. But before he could do anything to her, an invisible force pulled him backwards by his ponytail.

"Yeeeeeoooooow!" cried Malfoy. Lily watched in awe as Malfoy was flung to the ground by seemingly nothing and as his nose suddenly became disfigured with a sickening crunch.

"What the—" But her question was soon forgotten as an arm popped out of nowhere, grabbed hers and started dragging her down the hall.

~~~*~~~

          Arabella and James were walking to the Gryffindor common room, chatting amiably when suddenly they saw Lily Evans and an…arm run by? They shared a bewildered glance before chasing after the wide-eyed red head. Soon they found themselves being woven through hallways and traipsing through hidden doors until they finally stopped at an odd room at the opposite side of the castle from where they had started.

          Out of nowhere Sirius Black appeared holding a shiny silvery cloth.

          "Sirius?" Lily screeched. 

          "At your service madam." Sirius said taking a bow.

          "Wh-How did you do that?"

          "Uh, your welcome."

          "Oh, thanks."

          "Why is she thanking Sirius?" asked a confused Arabella.

          "Malfoy was gonna do who knows what to Lily. The slimy git." Sirius replied

          "Define 'who knows what?'" demanded James, feeling rather angry with Malfoy.

          "Well. He's not much of a smooth talker…and was trying to escort Lily 'to her destination'" Sirius stated, putting on a Malfoy tone.

          "And…" prodded Arabella.

          "Lily would have none of it and delivered some nice insults. But out of nowhere he slammed her against the wall. I came up from behind and yanked the ponytail out of his head." Sirius said exaggerating the truth, "Then I slammed him to the ground and began punching his lights out. His nose broke on the first—"

          "And ONLY—" Lily interrupted.

          "Blow!"

          "So, basically, Sirius broke Lucius' nose and ran?" James asked, translating Sirius' lingo. 

          "Yup." Lily replied.

          "You guys make it seem so cowardly!" cried Sirius.

          "Yeah!" agreed Arabella, "At least he got her to safety!"

          "I would've been fine!" yelled Lily.

          "She would've been fine!" yelled James.

          "SEE!" they yelled simultaneously...agreeing. 

Then Lily glared at James, realizing just who she was agreeing with and said, "Well. Actually. I think I agree with Arabella and Sirius over there. James can't possibly be right!"

James groaned, threw up his hands and marched out of the room muttering, "Impossible!"

"What's his problem?" Lily asked and too walked out of the room.

Sirius and Arabella turned to each other and shrugged their shoulders.

"Arabella?"

"Yeah?"

"Why were you with James earlier? I thought you hated his guts?"

"Why would I ever do such a thing? James is my _friend. Why do you ask? Is somebody a little jealous?" Arabella teased._

"What? **No**!" Sirius answered a little too quickly, "But about James. Did I miss something?"

"What do you mean _something."_

"Are you two…?"

"Hahahaha!"

Sirius blushed profusely and mumbled, "I'll take that as a no."

"C'mon. Let's head back to the common room."

"Right behind you."

~~~*~~~

          "YOU _WHAT?" screamed an outraged Lily, "HOW COULD YOU???"_

          "Er…I…er…" stuttered a nervous Arabella.

          "YOU'VE BETRAYED ME!!!" Lily started shaking her head and mumbling to herself as she paced in circles, "Befriending the enemy…the _enemy_…_en-e-my_!"

          "But he's innocent!"

          "Innocent. HA! And you believe that…that…_him???_"

          "Well, yeah…:"

          "What did he do to you?" Lily asked, almost sounding worried.

          "He told me the truth!"

          "And I told you the truth too. There are two truths which means one has to be a lie, right?"

          "Er…n-"

          "EXACTLY!! So, then, who's truth do you believe? Mine or his. No boths."

          "Er…can I get back to you on that one?"

          "Bella!" Lily shrieked, shocked. "NOW!"

          "You sure?"

          "You've got no choice."

          "Fine…I'll choose neither," Arabella smiled, proud of herself.

          "But I said—"

          "That I couldn't choose both. So I chose neither. HA HA!"

          "But—ERRR!" Lily's temper flared once again and when Arabella went back down to the common room she had donkey ears, a rat tail, and magenta polka-dots all over her.

          "What happened to you?" asked Peter, who was sitting with his other three friends.

          "I outsmarted that fiery red-head known by the name of Lily Marie Evans."

          "Oh," replied Peter, not the least bit fazed.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Okay, there it is! I know it's not that great…but I've had a bad case of writers block. Sooo…just read and review…and then that'll make a writer's day. So, thanks for bringing me up to a whole 56 reviews! I love you guys!!! Oh and I just wanna know how many of you out there would like me to follow the plotline set by JK or if I can change things up a bit…because quite frankly it's gonna be difficult to make them hate each other for practically seven whole years, and a lot of you out there want something to happen…so…that's it. Thanks to all you lovely people out there!!!

~DanniBannani~

Oh…and I am sad to say that it may be a while before I update again because I am going to be on vacation for the next three weeks…starting Friday.  I'm taking my laptop with me…so hopefully I'll get something done…but who knows? Well, TTFN!!


	12. What to do?

Disclaimer~ I do not own anything that the author JK Rowling has created. Anything here that's unrecognizable under her, or any other's, name belongs to me.

~Hello all! Right now I'm on vaca in the states….but I got a chance to write in my free time! Thanks to the reviewers of the last chapter (all three of you!). lol. Well…I hope you guys'll like this new chapter…some may, and some may not. Well, I hope you enjoy, and now

On with the fic…

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Lily sat on her bed in a huff, wondering what ever made her make such a pitiable selection of friends. She'd pushed herself away from not only Arabella, but also Melanie and Robyn because they had immediately jumped to the side of Figg and not her.

"Why does everyone have to be so stupid these days?" thought Lily.

"Why does Lily have to be so stupid these days?" asked an outraged Arabella. "I mean, we befriended James. Big WHOOP!" 

"Yeah, I know what you mean," agreed Melanie, "It's not like we're all swooning over him or one of his best friends."

Arabella suddenly burst into a loud coughing fit and clutched her throat, saying, "Oh, my! I dunno where _that came from. Please, excuse my loud interruption."_

"Alright…" started Robyn, turning back to her potions essay on the effect of shriveled newts on sleeping drafts. She stared at the blank parchment in front of her before shrieking, "Oh, bloody hell! I can't take doing another potions essay without Lily doing half of it first! Why don't we just march upstairs, beg Lily for forgiveness, ditch the boys, and be happy?"

"Or why don't you just go ask Remus? He's the next-best to Lily in potions," smartly commented Arabella.

"BECAUSE—," Robyn roared, "Because…er…beca—oh fine! I'll go over to Remus! Okay?"

"That's fine, Robyn," calmly stated Melanie.

"FINE!" Robyn yelled, picking up her books from the table where she had been seated and marching over to the fireside where Remus was stretched on the ground, watching the dancing flames.

Melanie stared at Robyn's retreating form before turning to Arabella and cautiously saying, "Y'know Bella…she's got a point. Why don't we just go and apologize and get back to being friends with Lils again?" She watched as Arabella's face reddened, then blanched and reddened again, "WITH compromise," she finished.

"And what would be the compromise?" prodded Arabella.

"We get to keep the boys."

"Yippee!" cried Arabella, "But that'll never work."

"You're right…"

"Unless we make it impossible for her not to forgive us."

"And how would we do that?"

"Three words: Get. Lucius. Malfoy."

"Aaaaah! Me Like!" grunted Melanie in a scarily troll-like tone.

"Mel?"

"What?"

"Never do that voice again,"

"Yoo meen dis vun?" she asked, again using the voice.

"Yeah."

"Aaaargh. But me like voice," said 'Troll Mel.'

"But I don't," growled Arabella through clenched teeth.

"Aaargh!" cried Melanie before pouncing on Arabella, fingers outstretched like claws. Arabella let out an earsplitting shriek before struggling to escape the evil monster, known as Mel.

"Somebody save me!" she cried, "Melanie's brain's been swapped with a trolls'!"

"Aarrgh!" grunted Melanie, 'clawing' at Arabella's back.

"Saaaaaaaaaaave Meeeeeeeee!"

"Did I hear the cry of a damsel in distress?" boomed the voice of Sirius Black. "Why yes, I believe I did. Come, faithful stallion!" Sirius then jumped on the back of Peter Pettigrew, kicking his heels into Peter's pudgy side and yelling, "Yah!"

Peter obediently galloped across the room to the scene of the 'attack' where Sirius jumped off his back and pulled the screaming Arabella out of reach of the evil Melanie.

"I have saved her!" yelled Sirius in victory before collapsing in the chair behind him. Arabella turned to Sirius, beaming. 

"Oh thank you dear knight! You are most wondrous!" she cried before throwing her arms around an unsuspecting Sirius. She pulled back a bit and pecked him on the lips so quickly, neither was sure if she'd really done anything at all.

Before anyone had a chance to say a word, Arabella bounded up the stairs and out of the common room, face red and tears brimming, leaving a wide-eyed Sirius to gently put his hand to his lips where Arabella's had been for the slightest instant, oblivious to the hoots and hollers of his fellow Gryffindor. (a/n-Awwww a widdle bit of puppy wuv!)

~~~*~~~

          Lily screwed up her face as she heard the door handle to her dorm twist and the door bang open. She looked up into the face of the last person she wanted to see, Arabella Figg. However, she noticed something was terribly wrong with the girl she had once called her friend. Arabella's normally vibrant blue eyes were wide, red, and watery; her usually bouncy blonde curls seemed unusually limp; and her typically flushed cheeks were a ghostly white.

          "What's wrong with _you?" asked Lily in what she'd hoped would be an unconcerned tone, but came off sounding like the tone of a worried friend._

          Arabella tried to look completely composed, but when she burst into tears there was little she could do to hide her feelings.

          Though she wasn't supposed to care about Arabella, Lily couldn't help feeling a bit guilty for not doing anything for the weeping girl. She tried listening to her head which was telling her to ignore the silly girl but found her feet taking her towards Arabella's shaking form.

          "Oh, Bella. What's the matter?" asked Lily in a soothing tone.

          "Everything!" Arabella croaked between sobs.   

          "Oh, come on. It can't be _that bad."_

          "I kissed Sirius, on the _lips."_

          "Oh, Merlin. It can be that bad."

          Arabella laughed miserably at her friend's response. "I told you so."

          "And I should've believed you."

          "I can't bear to look at him ever again!"

          "Oh, sure you can."

          "You didn't see his face, did you?"

          "Well…"

          "You didn't see how wide his eyes were…or…or…the look on his face!"

          "And for all you know he could be jumping for joy right now," Lily tried at a more positive angle.

          "I doubt that. Seriously. Oh, gosh. Sirius Lee," groaned Arabella. "What am I gonna do?"

          "I'll tell you what you're gonna do. You're gonna come with Mel, Robs, and I to the kitchen where we'll have a huge veg fest and vent 'till we can't vent no more!"

          Arabella smiled a watery smile before squeaking, "Thanks Lils. You're a star."

          "No, I've been a lousy friend."

          "And so have I."

          "Sorry," they said in unison.

          "Friends?" asked Lily.

          "Oh, of course!" replied Arabella, giving Lily a friendly hug before bursting into tears once more.

~~~*~~~

          Meanwhile, Sirius was dazedly mounting the stairs, wondering what he had done to scare Arabella away. Was he _that bad a kisser? He was positive that was what it was._

          As he entered the room, a sullen look on his face, his best friend, James, looked up and asked, "Alright, mate. Who stole your string cheese?"

          "What? Oh."

          "You can tell me these things." James prodded (a/n-I know…a little sensitive…)

          "Bella just kissed me—"

          "That's great!"

          "—and then she ran away crying. I must be a terrible kisser."

          "Now, you don't know that for sure!"

          "Yeah? And why not?" asked Sirius.

          "Well, first off, how long did the kiss last?" asked James in the voice of an expert though he'd never been kissed before.

          "Err…a second."

          "Then there wasn't enough time for it to be horrible!"

          "Really?" Sirius asked, his brown eyes lighting up joyously.

          " 'Course." 

          "Ah, thanks." Sirius' smile soon faded, "Then tell me, James, why did she run away?"

~~~*~~~

          The following week Arabella and Sirius were like two similar charges on a magnet. Whenever they came close to each other, they sprung apart as if an invisible force was pulling them away. The four neutral friends (Remus, Robyn, Melanie, and Peter) were struggling to keep in contact as two members of both their quartets were fervently avoiding each other. Basically, life was complicated for the group.

          However, while Sirius and Arabella were occupied with their homework one evening, the other six friends (James and Lily included, though they ignored the other's presence) were 'expertly' exiting the common room, planning to meet outside, where they would follow the remaining Marauders to a secret room they'd found.

          "Ugh! This potions homework kills!" cried Arabella.

          "I know. And so does my stomach," moaned Melanie. "Ohhhhh, my stomach. AHHH! The **horror of my poor STOMACH. Maybe I should go to the HOSPITAL WING!" continued Melanie in an obviously fake tone as Lily drew her pointer finger across her throat in a slicing motion, telling Melanie to stop.**

          "Yes. I'll come WITH you!" yelled Robyn.

          Lily dropped her head in her hands and heaved a great sigh as Robyn and Melanie scurried out of the room, barely suppressing giggles.

          "OH. NO. ARE. YOU. AL-RIGHT. LI-LY?" yelled Remus from across the common room. Lily began to sob (and she wasn't acting).

          "No!" she cried in a believable tone. "I feel awful. Will you help me get to the hospital wing?"

          "OF. COURSE. LI-LY!" screamed Remus, giving Lily the thumbs up and a wink.

          The two walked out of the room at the precise moment James jinxed Peter, who then needed to be 'assisted' to the hospital wing also.

          Once all six had escaped the common room and met outside the fat lady's portrait, the still sobbing Lily asked the three Marauders where they were taking them.

          "Follow me," said Remus, waving his arm in a gesturing motion. The other five trudged behind Remus until they came to the east towers, near the Ravenclaw common room (a/n-I think it was the east tower..but correct me if I'm wrong). Remus walked past three identical portraits of a mermaid before knocking on the frame of the center portrait. Where the center portrait had been, a door appeared which Remus quickly opened to reveal what seemed to be an empty, unused classroom. There were old desks with uneven legs and broken quills scattered about the dust-caked floor.

          "Wow, Rem. Where did you find this place?" inquired Melanie.

          "No matter," was his vague reply. "We're here to discuss the matters of Sirius Lee Black and Arabella Figg."

          "Why?" asked Peter. "I thought we were here so we could just talk for once."

          "In that case, would Lily and James be here?" Remus cleverly responded.

          "Good point."

          "Hey!" cried Lily.

          "What's that s'posed to mean?" demanded James.

          Remus uncomfortably cleared his throat before saying, "Anyhow, let's get the facts on Figg and Black before we decide to rip out each other's throats, okay?"

          A chorus of "fine's" and "alright's" sounded dully off the dusty walls.

          "Lily."

          "Yes, Remus?"

          "What does Arabella think of Mr. Black?"

          "I was sworn to secrecy." Lily replied, airily.

          "Secrecy-pecrecy! Who cares?" asked James

          "I do," said Lily matter-of-factly.

          "Oh, fine then." Sighed Remus, "James?"

          "Yeah."

          "What's Sirius' opinion of Ms. Figg?"

          "Er, secrecy," muttered James, sheepishly.

          "Oh, bloody hell!" cried Remus, "This'll get us NOWHERE!"

          "Alright…but I don't wanna do this…" surrendered James, "Sirius thinks that Bella thinks that he's some sort of disgusting freak with frog lips. And he's pretty embarrassed that she ran away after kissing him. He keeps asking me why, and to tell the truth, I don't know!"

          "Well, try this," cut in Lily, "she's embarrassed out of her mind for kissing Sirius and thinks that he thinks of her as a fool!" Lily slapped her hand over her mouth before muttering a muffled, "Oops."

          Remus cleared his throat loudly and looked at James and Lily while saying, "A sincere thank you to Mr. Potter and Ms. Evans. From their contributions, we have concluded Black and Figg both like one another. But, what do we do from here?"

          "Hook 'em up, gosh darn it!" cried Peter.

          "Hell yeah!" screamed Melanie. She received shocked stares from her friends at the sudden jump out of her usually quiet character. "What?" she asked, oblivious. 

          Several grunts, coughs, and cleared throats erupted in the room.

          "Okay!" called Remus, while clapping his hands together. "How do we set up Sirius and Bella?"

          "Good question," said Melanie.

          "I say we shove 'em in a closet and lock the door," tried Peter.

          "And get pummeled to pulp when they get out? I don't think so," said Lily in a 'no way' tone. (a/n- I can never think of correct words, so I improvise)

          "Well, Miss-Know-It-All, why don't you come up with something better!" challenged James.

          "Er…Um…" Lily paused for a considerable while, "Closet it is!"

          "Thought so," said James, smoothly.

          As the minutes passed by, the devious six came up with a fool-proof plan to get Arabella and Sirius trapped in a closet, involving the stealing of wands and the Alohomora charm.

          "And we'll put this plan into action on Sunday," said Remus in a finishing tone.

          "But that's tomorrow!" moaned Robyn and Peter, the lazier two of the group.

          "Precisely!" chirped Remus.

          But when the four returned to the common room, they were in for a surprise!

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

          Well, that was the twelfth chapter! Hope you liked it. I personally thought is sucked, but tell me what you think by reviewing, pease! I'm gonna be so happy this time because (unless nobody reviews, which I won't be too surprised) I can get up to sixty. Hooray! Finally! Well…in case you didn't catch it last chapter…I made a sorta survey on what you guys want the plotline to be. Do you want me to continue with JK's plotline or go on with my own…you know, maybe shorten the period of hate or something. Let me know! I really want to! Well…that's all for now. Please review!!!! 

~DanniBannani~


	13. Are You Mad at Me?

Disclaimer~ I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters of JK Rowling. However, anything here that is not recognizable is mine.

~Hello people! Sorry for not updating in almost 20 days! But, I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. And if you didn't I'm sorry! Thanks to all who've reviewed. Reviews make me HAPPY!!! And I think that 66 is pretty good for a story like mine. THANKS SOO MUCH EVERYONE! Well…not much else to say…so…

On with the fic…

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          Six devious first years entered the common room in arrowhead form wearing smug expressions. James and Lily were in the lead with Robyn and Remus behind them who were trailed by Peter and Melanie. (a/n- Think Mighty Ducks…the flying "V" thingy.) They marched with their heads held high and twinkles in their eyes. Their bright eyes soon read 'disappointment', however, when they spotted Arabella and Sirius—together. 

          The pair was sitting on the couch, wearing embarrassed, but happy expressions on their flushed faces. Their hands were dangling in an entangled embrace (a/n-my fancy-shmancy way of saying 'holding hands' if you didn't catch it) and they were so obviously—

          "TOGETHER?" screamed James as the arrowhead formation fell apart.

          "After all of this?" asked Lily, exasperated, "After I had to go through that pitifully humiliating acting experience?"

          "After I had to fake a stomach ache?" demanded Melanie.

          Robyn stepped up and cried, " After we spent all that time thinkin' up plans?"

          "When we could have been spending quality time together?" added Peter in the tone of a pacifist. 

          Five sets of eyes looked at Peter strangely before turning to Remus who had yet to say anything, "Er…congratulations!" he cried.

          "_Remus_!" scowled Robyn.

          "What? I just think that it saved us a Sunday, that's all."

          "You know what, Remus?" Lily began. "You have a point. We really do need to work on that horrible potions essay Assisran assigned us. That stupid cow!"

          At this point a giggle was heard from the direction of Sirius and Arabella, whom the group had temporarily forgotten about in their moments of disapproval. They turned their heads just in time to see Arabella pull back from giving Sirius a quick kiss on the cheek. Her face was as red as a ripe cherry and her golden locks were bouncing gaily.

          "Oh, Merlin!" cried Lily, "I've just lost my inspiration." She marched to the stairs and mounted them, sticking her finger down her throat and faking a gag to show her disgust.

          "I regret saying this, but she's got a point," added James, heading upstairs and clutching his stomach.

          "Oh, hell. Why not?" asked Robyn with a shrug as she followed Lily up the stairs.

          There were several muttered, "yeah's" before the others followed suit. Arabella and Sirius remained on the couch, enjoying the novelties of First Day Syndrome.

~~~*~~~

Arabella and Lily are in bed-Melanie and Robyn are asleep. 

          "Lily?" asked a timid Arabella.

          "Huh?"

          "Are you mad at me?"

          "No."

          "Ok. Well, goodni—,"

          "It's just frustrating, you know?"

          "No."

          "After all we were going to do. After all that planning and then BAM, it's already done. And we missed it!"

          "Er...Lily. What _are_ you talking about?"

          "Oh. Nothing."

          "Is this about me and Sirius?"

          "No," Lily stated too quickly to be truthful.

          "But what's wrong with us?"

          "Nothing."

          "Then why are you mad at me?"

          "I'm not mad at you!"

          "I know!"

          Lily rolled her eyes.

          "But Lily…don't you want me to be happy?" Arabella asked, obviously hurt.

          "Of _course_!"

          "Then…why are you mad—,"

          "I AM NOT MAD!"

          "Shhhh…you'll wake the others."

          "Then stop saying I'm mad when I'm not."

          "But you are!" Arabella said, convinced she was right.

          "No, I'm just…I dunno."

          "Maaaaad…," Arabella sung quietly.

          "SCARED, okay? I'm scared!" Lily randomly spat out the first emotion to come to her mind, instantly realizing it was true.

          "But what are you scared of? I'm not scary."

          "No. You aren't. But the idea of you forgetting about me because of Sirius is."

          "What's Sirius got to do with this?"

          "Well…now that he's your boyfriend you're not gonna have time for me or Mel or Robs."

          "Oh…but I wouldn't do that!"

          "You barely even noticed I'd entered the room earlier today."

          "That's not true!"

          "Fine, whatever. Lets just go to sleep. I need a fresh brain for tomorrow: potions essay."

          "Ok." Arabella said, unsure that the conversation should have ended.

          A few minutes passed by before Arabella opened her mouth again, "Lily?"

          "What?" sighed the redhead.

          "Am I really not scary?"

          "Goodniiiiiiiiiiight Bella."

~~~* ~~~

          Most everything was normal as the days passed on. The novelties of being a couple, in Sirius' and Arabella's case, waned as the days passed by. Those passing days flew and flew until the scent of holiday spirit hit everyone in the nose. 

          It was after a particularly boring DADA lesson the six friends found themselves seated at the lunch table, welcoming the warm soup and freshly baked bread the house elves had prepared.

          "Sho." Sirius said through a mouthful of bread, " 'Ow many of you. Err shtayin ferr de herlidays?"

          "Oh. I'm not," immediately said Lily. "I've missed my mum and dad too much!"

          "What about your sister?" asked Peter.

          "What about her?" Lily asked in a not-so-caring tone.

          Peter shut up.

          "Oh…well, I'm not either," carefully approached Remus, "My gran's sick and I wanted to see her."

          "Oh…well. I'm not staying either," Robyn informed everyone.

          Sirius was getting fidgety, "Okay. Well. How about this, everyone who's staying raise your hand." Sirius immediately put up his hand. His normally goofy grin became a frown when he realized he was the only one with his hand raised.

          Arabella found his other hand, which was resting on his knee, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. It took all his effort to smile, and even then it was weak.

          "Hey Siri," started James.

          "What?"

          "You're not staying over Christmas."

          "I'm not?"

          "'Course not. You'll be at my place?"

          "I will?"

          "Yeah. And all of you…excluding Miss Temper-Tantrum-Ten-Times-A-Week are invited to my house for a new years party."

          "We are?" chorused the group, sans Lily, who grunted.

          "No, we aren't," said Arabella, changing her mind.

          "We aren't?" the group again chorused.

          "Nope, not without Lily, here. What's a party without Lily and James having a row to get it started?"

          "I dunno. We've never had one," said James, "And I don't plan on having one either! She's not coming to my house," James whined.

          "Oh, stop being a baby! Before we have to pull out the diapers!" teased Robyn.

          James stuck his tongue out at her; not realizing what he did was babyish.

          "Well, James," Lily smiled evilly, "It looks like you're not having that party after all."

          "What? No!" he cried.

          "Oh yes. Seems everyone loves me more." She smiled.

          "No, Lily. Nobody loves anybody more. But…it just wouldn't be fair if you couldn't come. So, James. Either you invite Lily…or Sirius will be moping around because he won't get to see Arabella. And you know how a mopey Sirius is."

          "Damn!" James muttered. "Fine, you can come Evans."

          "Yeah. Thanks. But I'm only coming to annoy you!" she smirked. James pouted. "Ohhh, come on Jamsie wamsie!" she said, putting on a baby voice, "You know you wuv me to widdle biddie pieces!"

          "On second thought, you both act like babies," added Robyn.

          "SHUT UP!" the two cried simultaneously.

~~~*~~~

          A week before school was let out; a blanket of snow covered the Hogwarts ground, leaving several opportunities for Gryffindor vs Slytherin snowball fights and, in James' case, jinx-all-snowballs-to-hit-Lily-Evans fights. The snowfall was what really confirmed the holiday season.

From that point on, the holiday spirit was extremely contagious and several older students were caught kissing under mistletoe they had charmed to follow them so they could find the perfect partners. Most first years were happily bouncing around the hallways at the prospect of seeing their families, except, of course, those who could not go home for Christmas.

          All of Hogwarts were admiring the decorations that had been put up in the Great Hall and when it came time to board the Hogwarts Express, several students wished they had decided to stay at their true home, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

~Okay guys…I know that was kinda short…but I only had a teensy weensy widdle bitty bit of inspiration. I wanted to get into Christmas in the next chapter, so after a while I ran out of ideas! Well…anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! Okies TTFN!

~DanniBannani~


	14. Preparations

Disclaimer~I own absolutely nothing here that is even remotely recognizable as someone, other than myself's, property.

I AM BACK!!!! And also, so very very very very sorry that I haven't written in ages. It started off being a problem of absolutely no inspiration at all mixed with a depression of getting only 3 reviews per chapter instead of the usual…5  :P  ! No, but seriously. I was getting a little upset. And then school started and I didn't feel like writing (sadly) what with all the homework being given out… and plus I know that my story is probably extremely boring for most of you because the characters are young and stuff…but…I always wanted to read one where everything isn't established yet. Yup…so those are my completely lame excuses for not writing in almost a month (EEEEK!). And my sincere apologies to all of you people out there who were expecting updates and didn't get them till now! I'm sorry! Now…since I'm done babbling on with useless apologies and most of you probably didn't read this…

…on with the fic!

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          "Mum?! Dad?!" cried Lily Evans as she jumped off the Hogwarts Express, immediately spotting her parents standing awkwardly in the crowd of wizards and witches.

          "Lily!" they both shouted as they watched their daughter come bounding towards them, scarlet locks bouncing vivaciously with the impact of her pounding steps. Her father opened his arms for his daughter to run into, sweeping her up in a huge hug and twirling her around before placing her back on the ground.

          Lily was glowing red with embarrassment and excitement. "You didn't have to do that Dad…now everybody will think I'm a baby," she crossed her arms and pouted.

          "Oh, don't be silly!" he said, beaming.

          "Ehem!"

          "Oh. Mum!"

          "I was wondering when you'd notice me!" said Patricia Evans. "C'mere,"

Lily's mum pulled her youngest daughter into a warm hug and murmured in a soft, raspy voice while kissing those scarlet locks, "Oh, my baby. I've missed you so much."

          Lily inhaled the scent of her mother, smiling at the feeling of love that enveloped her. _'I could stand here forever,'_ thought Lily. However, she was interrupted by a yell of "LILY! Don't move!"

          "Huh?" Lily asked pulling away from her mother when she was pelted with dungbombs. "_POTTER_!" 

          A walloping laugh was heard from somewhere in the near distance, of course belonging to James.

          "Expect to get more of this New Years, Evans!" his voice cried.

          "I told you not to move," came a voice from behind.

          "Oh, hey Bella," said Lily absent-mindedly while waving her wand and clearing the mess left behind by the dungbombs. She didn't notice the shocked, but impressed looks on her parents' faces.  "Oh yeah. Mum, Dad, this is Arabella Figg."

          "Very nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Potter," politely stated Arabella.

          "And you also," said Mr. Potter while Mrs. Evans commented on how polite she was.

          After standing around in an awkward silence for several minutes Mr. Evans piped up, "Err, well, Lily. We'll let you two say your goodbyes while we go get your stuff."

          "Great. My things are right over by the train." Lily said pointing in the direction of her luggage's supposed location.

          "Okay!" called Mr. Evans over his shoulder as he walked towards where Lily had pointed.

          "We'll meet you outside the barrier, okay sweetie?" asked her mother.

          "That's fine!"

          "Well, alright then…hope to see you again Arabella!" and Patricia turned around to follow her husband.

          "Your parents are nice," Arabella smiled, "But then again I guess you have to have something to make up for that wretched excuse of a sister!"

          "Yeah, I guess so," muttered Lily half-heartedly while twiddling with her thumbs.

          Sirius suddenly popped up beside the two girls and yelled "MISS ME YET?"

          "I seriously doubt it, Sirius. But I'm sure Evans can't live without my constant pranking.  No worries, Evans. I can help you with that probl—,"

          "_Don't_ even think about it, Potter."

          "So, I guess you didn't enjoy those dungbombs. Well, too bad. 'Cause I did!"

          "Ignore him, Lily. You wouldn't want to start off the holiday in poor spirits," reasoned Remus.

          "Yeah, because an unhappy Lily is an unhappy everyone," Peter stated, before adding, "except James."

          "Peter, what is with you and this whole 'let's all be friends, hoorah!' phase?" demanded James.

          "I-I just thought it'd be nice if we could all get along, that's all." Peter said, a determined look on his face.

          "And I think you've got a point Petey-boy!" Sirius clapped an arm around Peter's shoulder.

          "I do?"

          "Sure you do!" smiled Sirius and then muttered so only Peter could hear, "Shut up now before you find yourself a different color. You never know what'll set James off these days. Something about the Christmas hols that always bring out the worst in him, eh?"

          "Yeah, sorry. I forgot. Thanks for reminding me."

          "No problem." Sirius and Peter looked up just in time to see Lily waving goodbye and walking through the barrier. The others followed suit until none were left on the platform. The next time they would all be together was New Years Eve, at James' house.

~~~*~~~

          ***_She was sitting in the common room, studying for a transfiguration test. She was having particular trouble on the topic of Animagi, but she wouldn't dare admit it to anyone at all. She, Lily Evans, was seventeen, after all. The responsibility was hers._

_          As she sat, reviewing her notes for the millionth time and learning nothing, she heard the portrait hole swing open. She looked up to find a handsome boy, also of seventeen, walking in. It was, of course, James Potter, quidditch captain extraordinaire. He was wearing his quidditch robes and looked like he could do with a good nap._

_          As he searched the common room, he spotted Lily and all traces of exhaustion left his face. He smiled a wonderful smile, all of his perfect teeth gleaming with unrepressed joy. As their eyes met, butterflies exploded into rapturous flight inside of Lily's stomach. She could have never been happier…James Potter was her boyfriend.***_

~~~*~~~

          With a gasp Lily sat up in her bed, the memory of the pleasant nightmare she'd just been having slowly disintegrating with each breath she took until it was gone completely. Wondering what had woken her so suddenly Lily looked around her room for signs. Her Muggle alarm clock, which read 8:45 am, was not ringing; her bedroom door had not been shut by one of her parents or slammed by Petunia; her window had an owl resting in it; her closet—, "Wait a second! What's Bella's owl doing here?" Lily thought aloud.

          As if on cue, the owl swooped into Lily's room and landed on her bed with a light thump. "Hello Athena," Lily cooed as the bird stuck out her leg. Lily untied the letter from Athena's leg "Stay here. I'll need to use you to write back."

_Lils~_

_          Hello! I never realized how hard it'd be to be away from Hogwarts for so long! It's only been a few weeks, and already I'm craving the house elves' cooking…and the kitchens…and veg fests…and all the people. But, never fear!  I'll survive!_

_          Bad news though…Sirius and I broke up. And I don't know why! Everything was going so well when out of the blue (ON CHRISTMAS DAY!!!!)  Sirius tells me he's not ready to have a girlfriend. You'd think he'd have told me earlier. The stupid git. But…all is well, I guess._

_          By the way, how was your Christmas! Mine was excellent (and thanks so much for the diary! I love it!). I can't believe the holidays are almost over. Tonight we have the New Years party, and then a week later we're back at school! And also back to Etoile's crazy star charts.  How precise can a person be? 'Sirius, not zee person, but zee star, eez not _**'ere**_, it eez _**zere**_!' and she points to a spot that's a thumbnail away! Sheesh! Who really cares about Sirius?_

_And speaking of Sirius. I want to impress him (not the star), so then he'll regret breaking up with me. Which is why I'm at your house right now…well, I don't really think I need to say goodbye. Instead I should be saying hi. Look up!_

Lily looked up from the letter she'd been reading to see…nobody. She shrugged her shoulders and was about to write back to Arabella when suddenly someone stumbled through the open door- a blonde someone.

"Sorry. I'm horrible with timing."

"I noticed."

"Shut up."

"Wait a minute. How did you get the letter to do everything with almost perfect timing?"

"Oh, my brother charmed the parchment to say what I was thinking. Can I see that parchment?"

"Sure."

After handing her the letter, Lily watched as Arabella lit it on fire and threw it in the trashcan, dousing the flames with spurts of water spouting out of the end of her wand.

"What'd you do that for?"

"It was still tracking my thoughts, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, so?"

"I trust you Lils, I really do, but not that much… And thanks for the warm welcome to the Evans' home!" she added sarcastically.

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry, I forgot…but what are you even doing here in the first place?"

"Didn't you read my letter? I want to impress Sirius."

"Oh, yeah. About that. I don't think it's such a good idea. I mean, if you showed up looking stunning, wouldn't Sirius know that you were doing it just to impress him?"

"No…he's a guy, Lily," Arabella said slowly as if Lily were the stupidest person on earth, "And guys aren't that smart…"

"That's what you think, Bells."

"Bells?"

"It just came out, okay?"

"I like it. It has a nice _ring_ to it!" Arabella burst into a fit of giggles and was rolling on the floor clutching her stomach. Lily watched Arabella with pitying eyes, trying to seem cool and mature, but failed horribly once she let out a loud howl of laughter.

"**Bells**, you do know that I'm laughing at you and not your joke, don't you?" Lily said between laughs.

"Yeah. I'm laughing at myself too!"

"You're such a loser!"

"I know!"

Lily rolled her eyes.

_*Five o'clock that evening*_

          "Oh my gosh! We're gonna be late! James lives three hours away and the party starts in one hour! Why didn't you tell me what time it was?" shouted Lily in a panicky state.

          "Lily, Lily, Lily," Arabella tutted thrice, "Not to worry. We _will_ be there on time. Maybe with time to spare."

          "But how?" she cried, pacing back and forth across her room.

          "I'll tell you in a minute, but just to mention it, for a person who supposedly despises the host of the party, you seem to care a bit too much. Why is that?"

          Lily blushed crimson, but Arabella, having only known Lily for four months, was not yet able to distinguish the difference between Lily's angry and embarrassed blushes and was clueless to what it meant. 

"Well?" Lily asked abruptly.

"Well what?"

"You were about to tell me how we'll get to James's house on time Miss-Know-it-All!"

"Number one, only you can be dubbed Miss-Know-it-All! And number two, floo powder."

"Are you ill?"

"Huh?"

"Floo powder?" Lily said doubtfully.

"Yeah, this stuff," Arabella held up a blood red velvet pouch, tied with a golden string. She untied the string and opened the pouch to reveal a silvery powder. "You throw it into a fire and then you step into the flames, which've turned green, and then you say where you want to go and it takes you there."

"Let me feel your forehead."

"I'm not sick, Lily! How do you think I got here! I arrived at eight in the morning, and you know I'm not the type of person to get up at five in the morning to get to somebody's house. Plus, I can't dlive!"

"Drive."

"Same difference."

"But it's not poss—,"

"Most anything's possible in the wizarding world. I though you'd have learned that by now!"

          "Okay, fine. I believe you."

          "Good. Now, let's get ready."

          "What are you going to wear? You can't wear what you have on, can you?"

          "No, of course not! But…I was hoping that maybe _you'd let me borrow some of your clothes? Please? Pretty please with cherries on top! The tippity tip top…top……_top_?" Arabella pleaded, her voice growing higher with each 'top.'_

          "Oh, fine! But only because you're my best friend!"

          "Thanks Lily!" Arabella cheerily cried.

          "And you do know that that means you'll be wearing Muggle clothes, right?"

          "Well, duh!"

          "Okay. Try this." Lily handed Arabella a navy blue ribbed turtleneck and a pair of light blue denim jeans. 

          "Ugh! You're so plain and boring! And this is a party at the _Potter_ mansion! This is a big event Lily! We're not the only ones going! We need to dress up!"

          "We, what?"

          "You do know that James' father is the Minister of MAGIC! He throws these huge balls at his house every single New Years. My mum and dad are going too!"

          "James is the Minister's son?"

          "YEAH!"

          "Oh," Lily said in a quiet voice, "How did _you know?"_

          "Sirius told me," Arabella said, looking down.

          "Oh," Lily said solemnly, noticing the sadness in Arabella's voice, "Well, in that case, let's get some of my dresses out, eh? I can't wait to see the look on Sirius' face when he sees how stunning you look! I'll even get my mum to do our makeup. She always does it best! You should see her when she goes to parties. She looks like a goddess!"

          "Really?" Arabella's blue eyes lit up, "Thank you!!!!"

          "You're welcome," Lily couldn't help smiling at Arabella's gleeful expression. "Err, but Bella?"

          "Yeah?"

          "You may want to bring a change of clothes."

          "And why is that?"

          "This will be at the _Potter mansion. As in JAMES Potter, King of the Dungbombs!"_

          "Ohhhh. Okay. Then I'll take that turtleneck and those jeans."

          "But those are some of my better clothes!" Lily protested.

          "Oh…right."

          Half an hour and several dresses later, Lily and Arabella daintily descended the stairs, Lily donning a sleeveless dress, which once was a plain gray, and now (with the help of several charms) was a shimmery pale blue. It was nothing exceptional, but left her looking extremely pretty, nonetheless; Arabella wore one of Lily's nicest dresses, which was navy blue (also sleeveless) boat neck, and stopped a little above her knees.  Sheer white shawls that they wrapped around their shoulders accompanied both of their dresses. (A/N-These are not frilly frou-frou dresses…but they aren't drop-dead-gorgeous OMG! gowns either. Do not forget that they're eleven and most eleven yr. olds I know aren't gonna go tromping around in long slinky gowns, six inch stilettos etc., etc. Oh and I suck at dress descriptions…so this is as good as it gets, sorry.)  The two girls left their hair to fall down their backs in wavy curls.

          "Mum! We're ready for you!" Lily cried.

          "Come to the powder room!" Patricia Evans called to her daughter.

          "Be there in a minute!"

          Lily walked through a small hallway and opened a door at the very end. "And welcome to Evans' Beauty Supplies!" Lily jokingly exclaimed.

          Arabella was shocked at all the makeup products that were lined out on the vanity. There were piles, rows, and stacks of mascaras, lipsticks, lip glosses, eye shadows and blushes in almost every color imaginable.

          "Where did you get all of this?"

          "Oh, before I had kids I used to do facials for anyone willing enough to try, but it was only a hobby. Anyways, people used to bring me makeup they wanted me to use on them. Some of them left it with me for the next time they'd come by. But don't worry! I am 100% sanitary!"

          "I won't! I can't wait to get started!"

          "But, unlucky for you ladies. I'm only doing the bare minimum. I don't want any young men drooling on those lovely dresses of yours. I recognize the navy one on Arabella, but Lily, where did you get yours?"

          "Remember that ugly gray dress you got me for my birthday?"

          "That dress is not ugly!"

          "Yes it _was_! But, it's not **anymore**. I changed it to this blue! Don't you like it?"

          "Well, it is quite lovely," Patricia said after a short pause, "I guess I better get started on you girls!"

          "Yes!" squealed Arabella.

          Only ten minutes later, Patricia was done with both girls. She'd applied a pale white eye shadow to Lily's eyelids and thickened the appearance of her eyelashes with a small amount of mascara. The contrasting black mascara and white shadow brought out the true brightness in Lily's emerald eyes. The simple job was finished off with a bit of pink lip gloss.

          Arabella's makeup was similar to Lily's, but instead of having a white shadow she wore shimmery silver. The effect on her eyes was basically the same as on Lily. Her sapphire orbs were brightened, leaving her looking like a goddess, herself.

          With their heads held high they walked towards Lily's fireplace, preparing themselves for the rowdy boys that would be by the fireplace they'd be exiting.

"Ok. Here's how you Floo. Watch carefully and mimic me, okay. Don't worry about anything and tuck your elbows in. It's quite simple, really," Arabella reassured before she threw her powder into the fireplace, the flames immediately shining a vibrant green. She stepped into the fire, green flames licking her arms and legs, and yelled, "Potter Mansion!" The flames rose up over her completely and when the flames had retreated she was gone.

'Well, here goes,' thought Lily as she threw the powder into the flames. Like with Arabella, the flames turned a brilliant shade of green. She tentatively stepped into the flames, to find they felt quite warm, but not hot enough to burn her. "Potter Mansion!" she yelled clearly. The flames rose up over her and suddenly she was spinning in a dizzying rush of passing hearths. She shut her eyes tight and prepared herself for the end…

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Hello people! I know that wasn't the best of chapters…again I'm sorry! But it WAS the longest I've written (2900 words, basically) Well, thanks to all who've reviewed so far! I've made 70!! That makes me feel so special (and Jen's review -review # 70- was really what motivated me. Thanks J) Well, I hope you enjoyed. I know I got you thinking that this would be the chapter of the party, but I was writing and realized the chapter would be way too long! But, I will try not to wait as long as I did this chapter to get the next one out. Well, please ReViEw and tell me what you think! Ok…well, until the next chapter!

~DanniBannani~

Oh, and if you're wondering where Petunia is…the truth is I don't know. Let's just say she's out with a friend! (I sorta forgot about her until NOW and it's a little too late to put her in, but maybe next chapter, or the next!) And yes, I do realize that this chapter was basically pointless…but I needed a transitional chapter…otherwise I would've written a horrible party and a lot of stuff wouldn't have been explained. Yeah…ok. Bye, then. Review, please!


	15. To The Mansion

Disclaimer~ I do not own anything that belongs to JK Rowling or any of the authors at fanfiction.net. However, any original work here belongs to me.

DanniBannani~ Hello people! Just so you know, updates may be a teensy bit slower than they usually were (before that month break thing :-s) because of schoolwork and stupid teachers who think it's a wonderful idea to give a bazillion tests each week…But, my goal is to update weekly or every other week. I really do hope I can achieve this! And thanks to all the reviewers of the last chapter J. You guys rock! And since there were five of you, I can name you all!!! So thanks to: nerdypurdy

     shortnsassy

     GravityDrop

     Toria

     JCTigerwolf4e

Heehee! Oh, and by the way…I am searching for a person who is excellent at summaries because I've just realized mine totally sucks! Hahaha…well, that's all…so…

On with the fic…

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          Lily was on the verge of fainting from fright when she felt herself fly forward. Eyes still shut tightly; she landed against a nice, warm padded wall that cried, "Oof!" when she hit it.

          "Sheesh Lily! If you close your eyes any tighter you may go blind!" said the voice of Sirius Black, "And let go of James before you rip his robes! They don't come cheap, y'know!"

          "What?" whispered Lily with a tremble, eyes still clamped tight. 

          "Open your eyes and maybe you'll see!" cried Sirius, a bit perturbed. His tone of voice quickly changed when he said slyly, "Unless you and James need to tell us something…"

           Surprisingly this statement didn't faze Lily. Instead of immediately jumping back as expected, she slowly opened her eyes and looked James in the face as if he were some sort of strange exhibit. She stood in front of James, arms clamped tightly onto his shirt, for several seconds before abruptly shaking her head and jumping away.

          "What'd you do that for? You wouldn't let me go!" cried Lily indignantly.

          "Excuse me!" yelled James, "If I recall correctly, which I always do, _you were the one holding on to __me!"_

          "Was not!_"_

_          "_Were too!"

          "Was not!"

          "Were too!"

          "Will you two just shut up!" cried a voice from out of nowhere.

          The heads of Peter, James, Sirius, Remus, Arabella, and Lily (the people present in the room) turned towards the fireplace where Melanie was emerging in pale green dress robes.

          "So, what have I missed?"

          "Oh, nothing much, really; just the usual Lily-James quarrel," causally stated Peter.

          "Oh," Melanie said off handedly, "Anyways, Robyn should be here any second now."

          "Were you at her place?" asked Lily, now out of her 'I hate James Potter' state.

          "Nope. She was at mine. But, being a muggle born, I hope she doesn't have trouble getting here… but, I see you got here Lily, so hopefully she'll be alright."

          A few moments later a crash was heard from somewhere above. Then a loud call of "Meeeeeeeeeeeel?"

          "Well, at least she's in the right place," said Remus with a shrug, "Let's go get her before she terrorizes an unsuspecting house elf."

          Another shriek, though several octaves higher, called, "Master James' muffin!"

          "Looks like we're too late," said Arabella with a faint smile.

          As the crowd of seven followed James through his home, those new to their surroundings had eyes the size of dinner plates. They didn't expect James Potter-minister's son or not- to live in such extravagance. All the walls were covered in portraits of James' predecessors (most male Potters having unruly black hair). The windows had a royal quality to them with the swirly windowpanes and lush scarlet silk curtains, covered in intricately embroidered designs done in golden thread. The walls were painted a warm cream color and the entire house held a feeling of warmth and welcome.

          After passing through several doors and hallways and mounting one staircase, James led his friends into a room off the side of the hallway in which they'd just entered. Once there they met a strange site. Robyn was frantically apologizing to a tiny house elf who looked as if she were about to burst into tears.

          "I'm soo sooo sooo sorry. I didn't mean to. I promise," squealed Robyn.

          "Master James will be so angry, yes he will. Master James will be mad with Missy. All Missy wants is to make her masters happy. But now Master James won't want Missy no more, no he won't…" the house elf, Missy, babbled on to herself in a barely audible voice.

          "What did you do this time Gillette?" asked Sirius.

          "I…uh…I sort of…er…" Robyn started.

          "Oh, spit it out!" yelled Sirius, with a hint of impatience in his tone.

          "Um…Did this mean a lot to you?" she asked as she pulled a teddy bear from behind her back, caked in so much grime it wasn't salvageable. 

          "Muffie!" cried James, horrified! Lily sniggered. "I mean…er…no. I don't care about her." James tried to put on a nonchalant tone, but the look on his face gave him away.

          "I'm sorry James, but I came out of the fireplace and then I slipped on the bear and then it went flying and then it was going towards the water bucket over there and Missy tried to catch it, but she couldn't and it fell in and—"

          "Don't worry about it." James cut in before the story got any more chaotic. Robyn stared at her toes before the room went awfully quiet except for the mutters of Missy and the sniggers of Lily. 

          Finally, Sirius cut in and shouted, "Are you guys ready to party?"  
          Everyone stared at Sirius with expressionless faces.

          "Oh, come on you lot! You're so boring!" he cried.

          "You know what? Sirius has a point," said James, lightening the room, "Let's get 'em!"

"The words are let's party, stupid!" Lily smiled annoyingly while briefly scrunching her eyes and shaking her head. When she opened her eyes once more, they saw a jet of cold water spurting her dress like a hose.

With one shriek Lily cried, "This means war Potter!" She whipped out her wand and cried,  "Aqualus inducio!" A jet of water pulsed out of her wand and hit James square in the face. Before James could recover, Lily ran out of the room, yelling behind her, "Bet you can't catch me Potter!"

"Oh no you don't!" roared James before chasing after her.

They ran throughout the house, hitting each other with their own bursts of water, as well as soaking the floors, walls, and just about anything else that got in their way.

As Lily was rounding a corner, she looked over her shoulder and shot James in the stomach. Before she had a chance to turn around, she bumped into someone, causing her to fall with a thud onto the marble floors. 

"Oww...," moaned Lily.

"Here you go Miss Evans," said a masculine voice as strong arms picked Lily off the floor and set her on her feet once more. The arms remained supportively on her shoulders, as the man asked, "Are you hurt?"

Lily looked up to see the face of Henry Potter, Minister of Magic, "H-hello sir, y-yes. I think I'm fine."

"No bones to be mended?" he asked in a friendly manner.

"No sir," she said, shaking her head.

"I told you already," Henry said winking, "Sir makes me feel too old. Call me Henry."

"Yes s-, Henry," she smiled.

"Well, I'm glad to see that the two aqua-children are both okay, but my house elves sure aren't happy."

Lily finally took the time to survey the damage she'd done just in the hall behind her. The curtains were soaked, along with the walls, the floor, the windows, herself, and James.

"Sorry dad." James said with a guilty smile.

"Don't worry. You'll just have to clean it up yourself—_before_ the other guests arrive at 7."

The smile was wiped of James's face, "But Dad!" he protested.

"Don't worry about it Mr. Potter. We'll do a great job," assured Lily.

"We? I only meant James, because he was the one who started the fight, correct?"

"Yes, but I didn't do anything to stop it. I'm to blame also."

"Very well then. Have fun!" and with that Mr. Potter turned around and walked down the hall. 

"I would pound you Potter," Lily said angrily, "but since we have a big job to do right now I think we need to start working."

"Yeah, you're right." James stood in his spot for a minute, bouncing on the balls of his feet and looking around as if he didn't know what to do.

"GET TWO MOPS AND SOME TOWELS YOU IDIOT!" yelled Lily.

"Oh. Right."

After James had gotten to his senses and retrieved the towels and mops the two delinquents set to work, first mopping the floors of all the water; then drying the curtains and walls with simple heating spells; and finally clearing any water damage done to the walls. With five minutes to spare, the two hurried upstairs to where they had left their friends. They, of course, were not in the room where Robyn had arrived. James assumed Sirius had led them to his room and therefore took Lily to the 'East Wing' of the Potter Mansion. 

When they arrived at the door to James' room there was a lot of laughing heard from the other side of the door. James quickly opened it up to find Remus hopping up and down on one foot while yelling, "Sirius is the king of all kings! I boweth to thee Sirius!" He then gave his best attempt at a bow before losing his balance and tumbling to the floor.

"What is going on here?" inquired James.

"We're starting a new tradition!" exclaimed Peter.

"We are, are we?" asked James.

"Why of course!" Peter piped.

          Sirius stood up on James' bed, "May I announce the first annual New Years Eve Truth or Dare Game! Rules being: We pick who goes first. They ask the person of their choice a truth or dare question, as long as they haven't gone before. Then if the person backs out of the dare or won't tell the truth they have to go sniff James' dirty knickers!"

          "No one's sniffing my dirty knickers!" protested James.

          "My point exactly, no one will back out. Anyways, before I was so rudely interrupted by JAMES here, I was talking about something…oh yeah, the First Annual New Years Eve Truth or Dare Game. Rules, Rules, Rules…yes. James' knickers. You will have to sniff them if you back out, so I warn you in advance. Just do the truth or the dare. It can't be worse than those things," Sirius pointed to some underpants that were laying on the floor and scowled.

          "Hey!"

          "Sorry, mate."

          "So, what time do we need to be downstairs?" asked Arabella, referring to the ball James' parents had organized.

          "Well, right about now," said James, glad to have a subject change.

          "Well, I need to fix up Lily at this instant!" declared Arabella in near state of panic, "What have you and James been up to? You look horrible!"

          "We were—" Lily started

          "Never mind. We'll be late. Hurry up!" Arabella marched out of James' room, but she returned only a few seconds after she'd left, "Where's your bathroom?"

          "Oh, through that door by my desk," James said gesturing towards a door off the side of his room.

          Arabella grabbed Lily's arm as well as Melanie's who in turn grabbed Robyn's. As a group they entered the bathroom to fix Lily's dampened appearance. Robyn shut the door behind her and the girls set to work.

          "Lily, what were you two doing, dousing each other with garden hoses?" asked Robyn.

          "Garden whats?" said Arabella and Melanie in unison.

          "Muggle watering device," explained Lily, "and no, we didn't use gardening hoses. Just our wands."

          "Well, you sure know how to soak someone!" joked Arabella.

          Lily smiled and said, "I am pretty good at that, aren't I?"

_~Meanwhile on the other side of the door~_

          "What's taking them so long?" asked James.

          "I don't know, and I probably never will," said Remus, perplexed.

          "So, all the girls are looking great tonight, eh boys?" asked Sirius, winking.

          "Ewww!" cried Peter, "Girls have cooties, right guys?" he nodded towards James and Remus.

          "Right," said James sarcastically.

          "Why are you looking at other girls like that?" asked Remus, "Aren't you and Arabella an item?"

          "No," said Sirius quickly.

          "Oh, I didn't know. What happe—," asked Remus.

          But he didn't have time to finish his sentence. The girls had finally made their appearance and were chattering happily.

          "Well, I guess it's time to go," said James. "We'll have to be announced soon."

          "Announced?" questioned Melanie.

          "Well, unluckily, the minister's son and his friends can't just walk in like normal people," James bitterly replied.

          "Oh," came the voice of Melanie, suddenly ten times quieter.

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DanniBannani~ Okay, okay, okay. I again have come down with a case of the evil, lying author illness. I tried and tried and tried to get into the party/ball, but I just couldn't! (holds out hands)  Go on! Slap the back of my hands with a plastic ruler! I deserve such cruel and unusual punishment ((fake sobs)). Please forgive me! I am evil! 

          And I may not be updating as often as usual, because my teachers have all decided that four tests a week is the best way to go! So…I have to write in what little spare time I have. But jus so you know, more reviews equals quicker updates ((winks vigorously)). And that means more truth or dare ((more wink)) and that make you people happy!!!! So, please review ((winks until eye starts to hurt)). REVIEW!!!!


	16. A Ball and a Deal

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that belongs to JK Rowling. Anything here that you don't recognize belongs to me.

~DanniBannani~ Okay guys, I have decided for sure that I am ONE HUNDRED PERCENT PURE EVIL (not really, of course…but not too far from it). Anyways, I am evil because I have come up with another case of LWS (Lazy writer's syndrome). I was _supposed to update about a month and a half ago…but as you know…I…er….didn't. Then, suddenly I got a bazillion reviews from my friend's sis (and one from her friend) and I decided that I really shouldn't keep you people waiting any longer. So…_

On with the story…

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"Wait a minute," Lily said after a long pause. "What do you mean we have to be announced? What type of announcement are you talking about?"

"Umm…the type where we're to be announced in pairs, descend the stairs and shake hands with the important people," answered James with a guilty smile on his face.

"James?" asked Robyn quietly. "Why didn't you tell us this before?"

"Truthfully, I didn't think it would matter," said a timid James.

"What kind of a _fool_ are you?" shrieked Lily.

"Well, I can't do anything about it now, can I? We need to get going. We should be walking into the ballroom in five minutes."

"Five minutes?" asked Remus calmly, "But won't we need to know our pairs by then?"

"Well, yes, I suppose so." James bluntly agreed. "How about this:  Remus, you go with Robyn; Peter with Arabella; Sirius, you get Melanie; and I'll be with…"

"No way. No. I am _not_ going in with you, Potter," Lily whined.

"But we need to go. It'll only take five minutes to walk in! I promise you, I'm not too happy about this arrangement either."

"So change it!" cried an annoyed Lily.

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because…I _can't_! Now let's go." James hooked his arm around Lily's and dragged her out of his bedroom. His other friends followed suit.

James, like he had been doing before, took the lead and led his friends and Lily through many hallways and up a staircase. Eventually, the group reached a large set of mahogany double doors. James turned the golden doorknobs and opened the doors to reveal the upper staircase to an extravagant ballroom. The stairs were made of white marble with pearly grays and ivory streaks swirling together in a lovely pattern. The marble on the stairs continued onto the floor where a sea of people awaited the Minister's son.

"Alright," James whispered, "Peter, Arabella, you two go first. Then Remus and Robyn. After them, Sirius and Melanie. And finally, me and…_her_."

"Okay," said the majority of the group.

At that point, a trumpet sounded and a loud voice boomed inside the room, "May I announce to you Mr. Peter Pettigrew and Miss Arabella Figg." Peter and Arabella nervously descended the stairs and shook some peoples' hands with only a few minor mishaps.

In the order that James suggested, the friends descended the stairs until it was time for Lily and James to go down as the final couple.

"And now I announce to all, the Minister's son, Mr. James Potter who is accompanied by the lovely Miss Lily Evans."

Lily and James pasted on smiles and descended the stairs arm in arm as if they were royalty. Once they reached the bottom, they shook hands of the Heads of several Ministry Departments. 

After they had finished acquainting themselves with the employees of James' father, Lily and James set out to find their friends. It wasn't long before they spotted them near the punch bowls.

"I still think we should leave," said Sirius, arms crossed.

"But it's so pretty and fun here!" argued Arabella.

"I agree with Sirius, this is horrible," said Peter.

"I have to admit, this isn't what I though it'd be," said Robyn with a nod.

"Well, what did you expect it to be?" demanded Arabella.

"I dunno…a little more…_Cinderella_?" piped Robyn.

"Who?"

Lily decided it was a perfect time to step in, "She's just a character out of a Muggle story."

"So the _Loooooovely Lily_ and the _Great James_ have finally decided to make their appearance," said Sirius with a smirk. "Was it just me or did that announcer favor James and Lily more than the rest of us? I didn't hear any of us getting called lovely!"

"Oh, be quiet," scolded James, "and what's this I hear about you wanting to leave early?"

"Well, it's just so booooooooring!" moaned Sirius.

"Well, what are we supposed to do instead?" inquired James.

"Truth or dare, of course!" stated Sirius.

"Well, okay," James reluctantly agreed, "It's not as if it's the last ball my parents will be throwing. **But we can't leave before 9:30."**

"Why not?" asked Melanie, who had been relatively quiet.

"Because, before then everyone will realize we've gone. However, the adults seem to get a bit drunk after 9 o'clock, so I figure that's the best chance we've got at escaping."

"Okay, that's fine with me, I guess," said Arabella a bit grimly, "I just wanted to dance a bit before we left."

"And dance we will," said James, grabbing her hand and sweeping her off onto the dance floor.

"Lily, may I have the pleasure of this dance?" asked Sirius with a low bow.

"Why, of course kind sir," she replied, curtsying.

Soon after, everyone was swooping and twirling around the dance floor. Every so often, they would exchange dance partners (though all the friends were trying their best to keep Lily and James separate). However, on their last dance of the night, Lily and James found themselves to be the only available partners. So, they grudgingly stepped towards one another. Lily grabbed James' mirroring hand and James put his hand lightly on Lily's waist. They began to dance—standing about an arm's length from each other. They soon found this position to be a most uncomfortable one to dance in, so they gradually inched a foot closer to each other. Though more comfortable, they still found their position to be awkward. Therefore, they discreetly inched towards each other once more, leaving only a few inches between them.

Before they could get any closer, the song ended with a final beat. James and Lily separated like oil and water and went in search of their friends (who they would be scolding for leaving them to dance with each other). Once again, they were found standing by the punch bowls.

Their friends spotted Lily and James, noted their angry faces, turned, and ran out of the ballroom like there was no tomorrow. James turned to Lily. 

"Bloody cowards!" he said, "Stupid, also. They should know there's a quicker way to my room than that, especially Sirius. He's been here more than any of the others. Anyways, Evans, follow me."

Lily was going to ask how James knew they were going to his bedroom when James turned around and headed for a staircase opposite the one they had entered on. Not wanting to be left all alone, Lily followed James, dodging several tipsy Ministry workers on the way. After climbing the stairs, James led Lily through a single hallway and down a single staircase before they were in the hallway of James' room. James ran up to the door and put his ear to it, "No one's there. Let's go in and hide."

"But they may not be going to your ro—"

"Hurry up, Evans, I think I hear them coming!" 

And to Lily's disappointment, she did too. "Oh, fine."

James grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her into his room, shutting the door soundlessly behind them. He pulled her into his closet just as the door to his room was opening.

"Phew!" said the voice of Sirius, "If they'd have caught us, we'd be dead."

"But luckily Lily was there," whispered Arabella. "She would have never thought we'd go straight to James' room. The obvious never occurs to her until the last minute." Lily grunted at that comment, but James shushed her.

"Did you hear something?" asked Robyn in a hushed tone.

"Nope, you're imagining things," assured Sirius.

"Yeah, you're right," Peter said, "James would never be able to get here quicker than you, Sirius. Why, I bet you know his house even better than he does." It was James' turn to grunt.

"Are you sure you didn't hear anything?" asked Remus.

"No. You're just being paranoid," said Arabella.

"Yeah, James and Lily are probably snogging in some closet," said an amused Sirius.

James and Lily had both had enough and decided they'd make an appearance. Lily grabbed the doorknob and James kicked the door open.

"So, is that what friends do? Talk behind our backs?" yelled James.

"N-no James, I'd never do such a thing," Peter blubbered.

"If I recall correctly, you were just doing it," James muttered through clenched teeth.

Sirius, deciding he would stand up for Peter, said to James, "Leave him alone! I'm sure he didn't mean anything by—wait a minute! Did you and Lily just come from a closet?"

"Yeah, so?" asked Lily.

"I was right!"

"Right about what?" inquired James.

"You and Lily _were_ snogging in the closet, weren't you?"

Lily was infuriated. "Sirius Lee Black, if I had my wand with me I would hex you to Hades! But since it's still in James' bathroom I will have to settle for the next-best thing."

"Which is?" asked a nervous Sirius.

Lily got an evil glint in her eye, "we continue this truth or dare game you lot started earlier. Whenever it's your turn, Sirius, you _cannot back out. If you do, well, how does Hades sound?" _

Sirius gulped.

"Do we have a deal?"

"Yes," squeaked Sirius.

"Good."

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~DanniBannani~ I again apologize for the mega long wait. I will try to update ASAP, but up until Dec. 12th I have end of term exams. So, I will be doing some MAJOR studying. Thanks to all who've reviewed and I PROMISE that next chapter will have the TRUTH or DARE game…continued.

Please Review! :P


	17. Truth or Dare?

Disclaimer~ Anything in this text that you recognize is not mine. However, if you don't recognize something (more than likely) it belongs to me.

DanniBannani~Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay. There was a death in the family right before Christmas, which caused me and my family to have to leave for America as soon as we could. And right after we went straight back to Switzerland to re-pack and head on a pre-planned vacation for New Years. And I just got back last Saturday. So, hopefully this explains why I'm a bit late on this chapter. So…

On with the story…

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"Now, let us begin," Lily grinned evilly and rubbed her hands together as everyone situated themselves in a circle. She grabbed the bottle her friends had been playing 'Truth of Dare' with earlier and spun it slowly for affect. Incidentally, it landed on none other than Sirius Black. Lily took much pleasure in saying in an oh-so-_sweet_ tone, "Sirius, you're first." 

          Sirius closed his eyes momentarily and took a deep breath.

          Lily said her next three words slowly and with satisfaction, "Truth or dare?"

          Once again his bold self, Sirius sat up straight and said cockily, "Dare, of course."

          "You shouldn't have said that Sirius…" warned Melanie.

          "And why not?" he asked with a smirk.

          "You don't know Lily's dares. Plus, she's got James to help her plot her revenge."

          "But James wouldn't betray me over one _measly_ joke, would he?" Sirius asked confidently while looking hopefully at James, who (to Sirius' dismay) had turned his head the other way. 

"Oh no." squeaked Sirius.

          Lily and James (who in a time of revenge, had decided it would be okay to form a temporary truce) went into a corner of James' bedroom to plot Sirius' "demise." After minutes of argument-like whispers, Lily's eyes lit up and gained an ominous twinkle. She whispered to James once more who nodded in approval.

          "We have come to a decision," said James in a professional tone. "Sirius, you are to—"

          James was cut off by Lily with a sharp nudge in the side. She turned to him and whispered in his ear once more. James gave a terse nod of approval.

          "Because Evans has had a good idea, for once," James said while jumping to avoid a kick from Lily, "We have decided that it would be more _appropriate_ for Sirius to suffer from his lack of patience, than to get our most horrific dare over with in the beginning. So, we have decided that Sirius shall wait until the end of the night to complete 'The Dare from Hades' as we've decided to call it." 

          Lily grinned happily.

          Sirius' bold smirk was wiped off his face in an instant, "Well. Wh-what do I have to do now?"

          "Oh. You'll just have to," Lily paused for thought, "sniff James' dirty knickers!"

          "And you say my final dare will be worse than this one?" Sirius asked doubtfully.

          "You just wait, my friend. You just wait," James said while beaming.

          "Well, Sirius, why are you just standing there? James' underpants are losing their patience!" Robyn joked. 

Everyone laughed and then turned to Sirius, waiting for him to complete his dare.

          Sirius shot daggers at Robyn before slowly standing up and walking cautiously towards James' dirty underwear. Once within a two foot radius, his back stiffened and his nose scrunched. Slowly, he bent down and picked up the briefs by his thumb and forefinger. He held the underwear an arm's length away from himself and, wearing a scowl, he brought the briefs to his face, inhaled their scent for a split second, and tossed them into a corner of the room in an instant. After several seconds of recuperation, he turned around and looked at the composed faces of each of his friends. Shoulders slumped; he trod over to his seat on the floor and plopped down. There he sat cross-legged, looking as if he could cry as he twiddled his thumbs and rocked back and forth.

          Seconds later, a storm of laughter erupted in the room. Melanie, the placid one, could be heard yelling, "I didn't know you to be such a sissy, Sirius!"

          Sirius blushed and cursed out his friends under his breath.

          James was the first to notice the hurt look on Sirius' face, "Oh, c'mon mate! Cheer up! We're only having a laugh."

          "Well, it's not funny!" he shouted. The laughing came to a halt. "**You** didn't have to smell them! I mean, it was worse than dungbombs—_tenfold!"_

          "You can't be serious," gawked Robyn, "I mean, I smelt dungbombs first thing in the morning once. You know, when my nostrils were all fresh, and could pick up the scent _really well—and, well, that was **the worst thing I'd ever smelt. And **__you say it was worse than the scent of dungbombs tenfold…well, that's pretty much impossible!" Robyn then started to chuckle, "I say, James, that's a world record!" _

          It was James' turn to blush as the new pot of laughter began to boil. But before anything could get out of hand, Remus stood up and shouted over the laughter, "Guys—and girls. I'd like to bring to your attention the fact that we haven't even begun to get into our second round of truth or dare. So, I suggest we stop laughing and start torturi—I mean _daring each other, preferably sometime before the next century!"_

          "I'm with Remus!" James agreed hastily. The others eventually quieted, some sooner than others. After ten minutes or so, they were all seated in a not-so-circular circle once more.

          "Now, it's Siri's turn to spin the bottle," said Melanie. 

Sirius reached for the bottle.

Lily and James fidgeted. 

However, to their utmost relief, the bottle landed on Robyn. 

In his head, Sirius was pondering what he would do if she dared pick dare. But being the kind person he could be at times, he decided he wouldn't be hard on her. This was mainly due to the fact that she had humiliated James in such a satisfying manner. So, he said with little anticipation, "Truth or dare."

"I'm always up for a challenge, so—," Sirius was prepared to inform Robyn of the easy dare she would have to complete, "truth." 

"I dare you to—wait! Did you say truth?" Sirius was in shock.

"Yes. Do you speak English?" Robyn said slowly, and very loudly.

"Er…yeah, but you should know that, Robyn." 

Robyn chose to roll her eyes at Sirius, "Well, then. What's my truth?"

Still in shock, Sirius asked the first question that came to his mind, "What color are your shoes?"

"No fair!" whined Peter.

"But _he_ asked the question," Robyn said with a smile, "and my answer is blue, though I'm sure you could figure that out yourself, couldn't you?"

"Wait! I didn't mean to ask that question! I want another chance!" Sirius pouted.

"Too late, already answered," Robyn's smile widened, "And I believe it's my turn to spin the bottle." Robyn picked up the bottle and spun it hard and wildly. The bottle landed on Remus, or rather, hit his shoe. Robyn claimed it counted and proceeded to ask the question, "Truth or Dare?"

"You know me, never the daring one. I say truth."

"Okay. Who do you like?" Robyn asked innocently.

"Er…well…d-do you promise not to laugh?"

"Of course," Robyn replied.

"And that goes for the rest of you as well, right?" Remus asked the others. 

They all replied with some form of "yes."

"Ok, then. The person I like is, well, I-it's Lucinda, you know, er… L-Lucy Spinnet." 

"Oh," Robyn said with loads of enthusiasm, "Lucy Spinnet. Well, she's really pretty, isn't she?" Robyn smiled a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Well, I guess it's your turn to spin the bottle, isn't it Remus?"

Remus looked perplexed for a moment, but soon shook out of his daze, "Oh, right." Remus spun the bottle and it landed on Robyn.

"Spin again, she's already gone!" said Lily.

"Okay." Remus spun once more. It landed on Robyn again. "I, um, guess I better spin it again." This time, it landed on Lily. Remus looked relieved as he asked, "Truth or dare?"

"Dare. I'm up for a challenge," Lily answered confidently.

Remus was about to tell Lily what dare she was to do when James interrupted, "Remmy, my boy; I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I suggest a dare for the Lovely Lily, would you?"

"I dunno if that's a good idea, Ja—," Remus attempted to object.

"Excellent. Lily, your dare is to eat five vomit-flavored Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans…_without_ spitting one out. Of course, you're alternative is to sniff my, er—underpants."

"Lily you don't have to since I didn't create the dare, okay?" Remus reasoned.

"No, but I _want_ to, just to see the look on James' face," Lily said with a glare that meant the white flag had just been lowered, "However, I don't see how we'll come across any vomit flavored beans without spending hours picking through packets of Bertie Bott's, which, might I add, I am sure you don't have." Lily said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, but Lily," James gave the redhead a sinister smile, "I just happen to have a stash of vomit flavored beans, handpicked by myself, that I leave in that drawer right behind you. You are more than welcome to look if you don't believe me."

Lily's face had paled. She obviously had thought James would have been stupid enough to not have the beans needed to complete the dare. She realized too late, that she was dealing with **_James Potter_, who was bound to have every single prank item known to man. Now she was stuck with a dare that she was not sure she could complete.**

However, she was not about to show any weakness in front of James. Therefore, with a calm look on her face, she stared James down until he was forced to look away. After completing the 'intimidation process,' she turned around and opened the wooden drawer of what she assumed was James' dresser full of prank supplies. When she looked inside the drawer, she was surprised to find not one, but _ten_ different jars (each labeled) of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans in the most revolting flavors. She found the one she'd need and pulled it out. 

Turning back around, she opened the jar, took out five tan beans (which were speckled with pink and green), and popped them in her mouth. She bit down on them and was filled with the sudden urge to vomit, herself. Of course, she didn't. That would be too satisfactory for James. So, instead, she got a hold of herself and began saying in her head, "It's just a strawberry jelly bean. It's just a strawberry jelly bean. It's _just a **strawberry **jelly bean."_

Lily swallowed the vomit-flavored beans with as little chews as it took. She felt them scratch her throat as they went down, but was sure they would stay down. After finishing, Lily opened her eyes (which she didn't realize she had closed) and found herself staring at seven sets of wide eyes.

"Geez, Lil, how did you do that?" exclaimed Peter, "James made me do that once and I didn't even get one down. Well, rather, it didn't _stay down."_

"I-I just think I have, er, talent," Lily murmured.

"Well, I'm proud of you Lils," said Arabella with a pat on the back, "That sure showed James!"

"And I have just the dare for him!" cried Lily.

"But you didn't spin the bottle," protested James.

"Fine!" Lily took the bottle and spun it slightly so that it would definitely land on James.

"No fair, you cheated!" argued James.

"No, technically I didn't. And it's your turn. So, truth or dare."

"Fine, dare," James raised a challenging eyebrow.

"Okay. I dare you to let me hex you at any time next month without seeking revenge."

"No."

"Robyn, could you go get James' knickers for me?"

"Wait!" cried James. "Agreed."

"I thought so," teased Lily, "But it _is_ sad you won't even sniff your own underpants! Are they really _that_ bad?"

~~~*~~~

And so the many rounds of truth or dare went on until it was almost time to welcome the New Year.

Lily and James, who had one again raised the white flag of truce, decided to stand up and inform Sirius of the dare he would have to complete as an "alternative" to more knicker-sniffing.

Lily cleared her throat and the room silienced. "Potter and I have decided to deliver to Sirius the final dare of the night, also known as 'The Dare From Hades.' James will explain to you, Sirius, what you are to do."

"Yes, indeed I will," said James in his professional tone once more, "Sirius. You are to enter the ballroom from the place we were announced; descend the stairs; and kiss one of the female guests who is over the age of sixty on the…_cheek _at the stroke of midnight. But don't think this is it, because it's not. You will be wearing a pink tutu, which I have so kindly agreed to transfigure since Lily's rubbish at transfiguration. ("ouch!") And Sirius, once you're done, you'll have to run back up all the stairs you've descended and sniff James' knickers in front of everyone. Then, and only then, are you allowed to leave the ballroom."

Lily then added, "And don't you even think about backing out. You heard what I said earlier and I will not hesitate to hex you to Hades. And I hear it's not very nice at all."

Sirius gulped, but nodded. And this was why, twenty minutes later, Sirius found himself in a pink tutu standing outside the doors to the ballroom. All of his friends were sniggering behind his back and his cheeks were on fire. He had been trying to persuade Lily and James to lighten up on the dare, but they wouldn't even consider it.

In fact, as the clock in the ballroom began to chime, it was both Lily and James who opened the double doors for Sirius. James gave him a quick shove on the back, nearly causing Sirius to fall down the stairs. He gained his balance just in time to see most of people in the ballroom looking confusedly at "that strange boy in the tutu." Once he realized the clock was still chiming, he scrambled down the stairs like a madman and rushed to the nearest woman he saw.

"Excuse me ma'am, but how old are you?" he asked in his politest tone. The posh woman merely shoved him off, claiming she was seeing things.

Sirius made his next attempt on a stout woman dressed in turquoise and gold fabrics. Her hair was a bright orange and she wore bright blue eye shadow. She looked to him a bit crazy and he thought she might be used to strange sights, such as himself. So, again he asked politely, "Excuse me ma'am, but how old are you?"

"Why, what a charming young man!" she exclaimed. "I love your costume, it's wonderful! I used to dress my son up like that all the time when I was forty, but that was twenty two years ago!" the woman seemed to float into a daze after that statement. Sirius figured she wasn't sixty anyways and went to look for another woman. 

This time he decided on a drunk woman who was stumbling around the ballroom, asking random people where the "craham grackers" were. He went up to her and asked (forgetting his manners), "How old are you?"

"Sixty-six, love!" she cried.

"Thank Merlin!" Sirius had never been more relieved.

Sirius waited until he heard eleven strikes of the clock before he quickly kissed the woman's cheek and began to run off; but not before he heard her cry, "Lovely boy, have you seen the craham grackers? I can't seem, to find them anywhere!"

Sirius didn't even bother to answer as he made a mad dash for the ballroom steps. He scampered up them, grabbed James' dirty knickers, sniffed them, and collapsed.

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DanniBannani~Hello once again everyone! I hope you enjoyed that chapter. If you did, please tell me in a review (It won't matter if it's short or long). And all I need is TWO MORE until I get 100! That would be amazing. I never thought my boring fic would make 60, let alone 100. WOW. Well, I apologize again for the delay (and for the bad chapter…I didn't like it too much, but it's your thoughts that count!) Please Review J


	18. I AM like Potter

Disclaimer~ Anything in this text that you recognize is not mine. However, if you don't recognize something (more than likely) it belongs to me.

Hello Everyone ! Thanks for the reviews ! I've finally got 100 and I owe it to you guys. Thanks soo much. Well…I guess I don't have much else to say, so…

on with the fic…

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New Year's Eve was one of the last true gatherings of the school year for the eight Gryffindor friends. Of course, they went to Quidditch matches and classes together, but they never had chances to be together just for the fun of it. This was mainly due to Miss Lily Evans and her crazy study schedules for her three girlfriends (the boys had somehow escaped receiving schedules from Lily).  Lily insisted the exams would soon be approaching and decided to nominate herself as "The Only Responsible One." 

It was a gorgeous day in late May that Lily, Robyn, Melanie, and Arabella could be found sitting in the enveloping red cushions of Gryffindor common room's couches. Large books with tattered covers were scattered haphazardly across the wooden coffee table that was in front of them. Their faces were all scrunched in looks of concentration and frustration as they scanned the various texts the books held. It was at this time that Arabella threw her charms book to the floor and flung her hands in the air, "That's it! I have had enough! I've been studying so much that I've forgotten the stuff I knew before I even _started_ studying! I'm taking a break," she paused to catch her breath and stood up. "Considering that the whole common room's empty, I'm guessing the rest of Gryffindor got the idea long before us!" Arabella turned abruptly and marched out of the common room, arms crossed over her chest and her blond curls bouncing against her black robes.

After recovering from the shock of the sudden outburst, Lily said in a sharp tone, "Fine! She can be that way if she wants to. She'll be the one running to me the day before exams, crying about how she's going to fail!" Lily's face gained an edge of contempt, "And you know what? I'm not gonna help her. Not one bit!" 

It was after this that Lily noticed she was yelling at no one. She turned in time to see Robyn and Melanie scurrying out of the portrait hole. As it was being closed she yelled, "And I won't be helping you either!" At this point, Lily began muttering to herself in tongues. Soon she returned to her studies. 

Nonetheless, she just couldn't seem to get her concentration back to one hundred percent. The windows in the common room were all open, and she could feel the warm spring breeze graze her cheeks as it slid past flimsy curtains. It was tainted with the joy of the students outside, who she could tell were having fun in the beautiful weather by their gleeful shrieks and cries.

          After a moment's longing, Lily shook her head and decided it wouldn't do her exam results any good to lose concentration at such a critical time. All the same, she found her thoughts wandering once more to the outdoors. Giving up, she closed her Transfiguration book and stood up, raising her arms over her head and stretching with a yawn. 

          She exited the Gryffindor common room and walked towards the Entrance Hall. Once there, she opened the great wooden doors and was greeted with the scent of spring—the scent of…_freedom. She walked out of the castle and onto the school grounds. She felt the springy grass under her feet and the warm air against her skin. She was in a state of bliss. That is, until a certain James Potter pelted her with water balloons which, of course, were charmed to follow her every step._

          "Why you evil little _prat_!" Lily exclaimed while James laughed heartily. She whispered a drying spell and was pleased to once again be waterless. Surprisingly, she didn't retaliate immediately to James' antics. Instead she searched the grounds for her friends until she spotted them sitting by the edge of the lake. She hustled over to them and gave a quick "hello."

          They ignored her.

          "I said, 'hello.' Aren't you people supposed to say something back?"

          They said nothing.

          "Oh, c'mon guys. I didn't mean it. You know how I get!" Lily was trying her best to avoid apologizing. "Please. I didn't mean to yell. I just was so frustrated, y'know?"

          Once again, they said nothing.

          "You guys are being childish!"

          This comment caused Arabella to humph,

          "Okay, that may not have been the best thing to say," admitted Lily, "but I really am sorry! Please forgive me! I'll help you study!" Lily was almost begging.

          "Ok," said Melanie with a smile. "We were just checking to see how long it would take before you cracked."

          "You guys are evil, do you know that?" asked Lily bitterly. "But I need your help at the moment, so I can get over it."

          "What do you want us to do?" asked Arabella as she pulled a buttercup from the ground and placed it behind her ear.

          "Well, do you guys have any good spur-of-the-moment prank ideas?" asked Lily as she plopped down onto the grass. "Potter decided he'd pelt me with stalking water balloons."

          "Sorry, my mind's blank," said Robyn, "But why don't we just do the same thing he did to you? He wouldn't expect it."

          "But that's not creative at all!" pouted Lily. She took off her shoes and socks and then placed her feet in the cool lake water, splashing water with her toes. "Plus, his prank was pretty amateur if I say so myself."

          Melanie gained a furtive look. "Well, actually, it's not as bad as you think. Imagine if we did the same thing to him, but filled the balloons with…green paint."

          "Why, he'd look like a frog!" cried Robyn.

"No…he'd look like…a Slytherin!" whispered Arabella appreciatively.

"_Exactly_,"_ said Mel   _

          "Mel, I really love you sometimes," said Lily with a grin.

~~~*~~~

_Meanwhile, under an oak tree…_

          "Why'd you have to prank her, James?" whined Peter. "All it ever does is get you- not to mention **us-** pranked back!" 

          "_Because_…," James paused for thought, "it's fun!"

          "Well, Lily's revenge isn't fun at all! I always end up in the middle of it," Peter whined some more. 

          "That's because you don't run fast enough!" explained James. Peter punched James' arm playfully and was staring in the distance when his face blanched and he abruptly stood up and started running away from James at an oddly fast pace. He was soon followed by Remus and Sirius who dropped their sandwiches and ran also.

          "Where're you going?" shouted James. 

          Sirius pointed behind James and continued jogging alongside a sprinting Peter.

          James turned around to see what Sirius had been pointing at. The sight he saw surprised him. Several silver balloons were quickly zooming in his direction. 'How odd,' he thought blankly.

It wasn't until a few seconds later that he realized the balloons were heading straight for him. After scurrying to his feet, James set off at a run after his friends who were quite a distance ahead of him. He quickly looked over his shoulder to see how far away the balloons were. To his dismay, they were only a few feet behind him…

~~~*~~~

_By the lake…___

          Lily was curled over laughing at the sight before her. James Potter was running like a madman, trying to escape the persistent balloons. He had almost made a full lap around the lake when he (to Lily's delight) tripped on a root and fell unceremoniously to the ground. The balloons came to a halt above James' crumpled form and, as if the spell making them hover had been lifted, dropped on top of him. A boyish shriek was heard over the grounds as balloon met flesh. 

Lily guffawed, although she was disappointed to realize she'd lost sight of James. All she saw was grass, grass, and more grass. It wasn't until he stood up from the ground that Lily realized where he was. It turned out the green paint inside the balloon was the same color as the grass James had been laying in. 'What a coincidence!' thought Lily gaily.

She nervously watched James stomp around the lake until he reached her and her friends' sitting place on the opposite bank. The green, paint-soaked boy stood over her, steaming, but was too angry to make much sense. All she could make out was the word "you" and something that sounded curiously like "britches."

"I beg your pardon," said Lily with a fake smile, "But could you speak in the way humans do? I'm sure you want to be a rhinoceros, James, but quite frankly, we don't have a talent for their language like you seem to."  Several people sitting nearby chuckled at this comment.

James blushed and let out several more incomprehensible grunts before violently reaching for his wand. In his fury his glasses tumbled to the ground, exposing the untouched skin that had been hidden behind his specs. Lily took this as the opportune moment to tease him once more, "Oh, look! He's a raccoon!" she shouted in a vitriolic manner. This comment aroused more laughter.

"Be quiet!" yelled James, dropping to his knees and tapping the ground randomly in search of his glasses. A few more chuckles were heard.

"Here," said Melanie, handing James his glasses,

Relieved, James whispered his thanks to Melanie and left before his humiliation could increase. After he was out of hearing range, Melanie turned to Lily with a frown on her face, "That was cruel!"

"What? He deserved it!"

"For _water balloons? C'mon Lils, it wasn't that bad. I'm beginning to think the green paint wasn't such a great idea," Melanie stated._

"Why not?" asked Lily, half-angry, half-curious.

"Because you've turned into _him!"_

"What do you mean by 'him'?"

"I mean you-you're doing the exact thing James does. You're pranking and then humiliating!"

"I'm not like Potter!" she cried indignantly. Flashes of James' falling form and her bitter teasing passed through her mind and her opinion of herself changed instantly. "Oh, no! I _am like Potter." This sentence seemed to echo in her mind until she couldn't take it anymore. Lily hastily stood up and ran towards the castle, her braid swishing back and forth across her back as her arms pumped. She ignored the several calls of her friends and ran through the castle doors. After racing up two flights of stairs she ran into the nearest lavatory, ignoring the "Out of Order" sign on the door…_

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DanniBannani~ Hello people. I am so proud of myself! I've updated within a few weeks of my last update **and** I am somewhat satisfied with this chapter. I hope you are too, so please leave a review *that rhymed :)* Also, thanks to all who helped bring me to 100. I AM SOOO HAPPY!!! Well, I must go now..so tata!


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